Hacker
by 18Tsunayoshi69
Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior. Rating for the fact that this is a Mafia fic and possible dirty language. Rating may go up.
1. First Computer

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 1: First Computer

When Sawada Tsunayoshi was born, it took all of five seconds for his father to decide he was the cutest thing that ever had or ever would exist.

As a mobster, Iemitsu always knew there was a chance his wife, Nana, and son would be targeted by a rival family, so he spent as little time as possible with his family, even if it broke his heart to do so. Iemitsu missed the majority of his son's youth, getting to know him through pictures and progress reports. He never got to really see the development of his son's mind and came to a solemn conclusion.

His son was completely and totally normal.

He was neither bright nor stupid. He was neither strong nor weak.

Normal.

This was okay, though. Iemitsu had decided from the beginning that he would keep his son out of the "family business," even if both of them carried the blood of the first Vongola Boss, Vongola Primo, thus putting them in line of succession of the Ninth. No, Tsuna would be a normal boy, with a normal life completely separate from the dangerous world of the mafia.

Let the poor fool dream.

KHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHR

"Tsu-kun, how would you like a computer?" Asked a brown haired, honey eyed woman from the door way.

A fluffy brown head of hair, visible over top of the large book, was revealed to be partnered with a pair of liquid honey eyes and a young face of a 7-year-old boy. The massive book that now sat closed in his lap was the third book he'd started reading that day, two finished ones sat on the floor of his room to his right, while a large stack of similar sized books sat on the floor to his left.

"A computer?"

"Now Tsu-kun, I know you like your books, but I think you should learn how to use a computer as well, they're very important in most careers now."

"Can I read on it?"

"Well of course, but you really should have better grades with all the time you spend reading. Well I guess I can't complain, it's not like you're doing bad."

Ever since he could remember, Tsuna had loved books of all kinds. He could always be found in the library of his elementary school or his room with a thick volume of any genre. It was no wonder that his reading level was on par with college students. Not that anyone knew that.

The cover slip of the book he had been reading and all of the other books were those of young children's books, all of which he had read before. Nothing unusual of a boy his age. Tsuna had decided to buy these books on his last trip to the book store because they were simple and easy to test out a new skill he had learned from a dictionary.

What skill can a dictionary teach a 6-year-old you may ask. It just so happens that this was a very special dictionary that Tsuna had found in his school's library, one that no other child would think to look in. It was a Japanese-French translation dictionary.

And that is why all of the children's book were written in French.

"I guess."

"Wonderful. Let's go to that new electronics store in town, they're supposed to be having a sale today."

"Okay."

The taciturn boy set the thick volume of fairy tales on his bed after making sure he had marked his place. He made his way down stairs after grabbing his jacket and headed out with his mother. It was only about a five minute walk before they came upon a store with a neon sign proudly presenting the name "Best Buy."

"What kind of computer do you want, Tsu-kun?"

"[1] Shirimasen [2] okaasan. Can I look around?"

"Of course. Just don't go too far, okay."

"[3] Hai."

Tsuna wondered down the aisles, trying to find which computer was both good and in expensive. Tsuna had read about computers in some of the engineering books he had found at Namimori public library and had been a little curious about their inner workings ever since. He had never asked for one because he heard they could be expensive and he didn't want to risk breaking something worth so much money. He was prepared, of course, with a few screw drivers, wrenches, pliers, and tweezers he had acquired during some of his father's many visits. Tsuna was always ready to take something apart and examine it.

After about ten minutes of searching, Tsuna found the perfect computer. It was small enough that he would be able to carry it comfortably, and cheap enough that Nana wouldn't go broke. A black 10.1" Dell Mini Netbook with a 1GB memory and a 250GB Hard Drive, and it only cost 37,000 yen (about $450)! Tsuna had heard most computers cost about 82,000 yen (about $1,000), but this was less than half. Maybe it was because it was so small.

Tsuna went back to the front and saw Nana looking at some flat screen T.V.s on the left side of the store and headed over.

"Okaasan, I think I found one."

"Alright, show me and I'll tell you if we can get that one, if not I'll help you look."

"Ok."

Turns out that wasn't necessary because Nana quickly fell in love with the tiny lap top and couldn't stop gushing about how such a cute computer was a perfect match for her cute Tsu-kun. Nana encouraged Tsuna to keep looking around the store for anything else he may like to get with the computer. Nana had already decided to get a small 20" flat screen for Tsuna's room because she thought it was time Tsuna put a little personality into it.

Along with the laptop and the T.V., Tsuna also picked out some head phones; a black portable hard drive; an orange laptop case; and an attachable CD/DVD drive, bringing the total price to 94,300 yen ($1,150). Tsuna was a bit weary of making such a large purchase, but Nana assured him that with Iemitsu's job, the price was actually quite small.

This information would be quite significant to Tsuna in a couple of month.

[1] Shirimasen – directly translates to "I don't know" in Japanese, being the negative to "to know," and is sometimes used synonymously with wakarimasen, which is the negative form "to understand."

[2] Okaasan – mother

[3] Hai – generally mean "yes," but depending on the context it can actually be used as a question.


	2. How does this work

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 2: How does this work…

"Now Tsu-kun, I'm trusting you to be responsible with your new things. I'll be really disappointed if you break them, understand?"

"Hai. I'll be careful."

"Ok. Have fun sweetie."

As soon as the door was shut, Tsuna turned his attention to the assembly of gadgets in his room. He couldn't work on the T.V. because Nana had already mounted it on the wall and he didn't want to risk dropping it and he didn't want to work on anything to expensive until he was more comfortable. So Tsuna pulled his small set of tools out of his closet and got to work on the ear plug head phones. They were small and cheap, easy to replace if necessary.

Tsuna found the process tedious but with the help of a photographic memory and dainty hand, he was able to get a good visual of the inner workings of his head phones and put the back together, still perfectly functional within an hour.

"Too easy."

That thought in mind, Tsuna moved on to the second cheapest purchase, the portable CD/DVD.

By the time Tsuna had finished taking apart and examining the CD/DVD and the portable hard drive, it was already 8:00 p.m. and almost time for Nana to come up and get Tsuna ready for bed. Tsuna was surprised at how much time he had spent examining the small electronic devises and wondered if he should go ahead with looking in the laptop that night, while Nana was sleeping, or practice more with the other devices.

Tsuna shook his head and started to put the portable hard drive back together. The portable hard drive was very similar to the inner workings of a computer, from what he could understand. If it was so easy to work with it, then maybe the computer wouldn't be that complicated either. Once that was done, Tsuna sat back against the side of his bed and picked up his French book of fairy tales and picked up where he left off.

It was only ten minutes later when Nana came into the room and told Tsuna it was bath time.

"Hmm, it's a wonder you don't have better grades with all the time you spend reading. You used to have the best grades in the class. I wonder what changed."

Tsuna was all too familiar with Nana's complaints about his grades; he'd heard it many times in the last two months since his grades took a sudden nose dive. When he had first started kindergarten in Namimori elementary, only six months ago, he had achieved remarkably good grades; his teachers had started calling him a genius and Tsuna glowed under the praise. At least until he realized that it came at a price.

Students soon started to resent Tsuna because the teachers showered so much attention on him and he had received multiple beatings, the worst coming from Sato-sensei son, Daichi.

Flashback

"Hey, nerd." Came a nasally insult from a boy with brown hair and eyes.

He was rather average looking, neither tall nor short, and seemed to suffer from a permanently stuffy nose do to his allergies. He was easy enough to recognize, being Tsuna's homeroom teacher's son.

At first Tsuna didn't realize the call had been meant for him and continued reading under the sakura tree in the school play ground. He didn't look up until the book was suddenly yanked out of his hands. When he looked up, he saw not just Daichi, but his two friends Heiji and Yuto.

Heiji was a chubby black haired boy with green eyes and stubby legs, while Yuto was fairly tall and thin with light brown hair and glasses over his hazel eyes. All and all, the three boys balanced each other out and formed a diverse group, but that didn't explain why they were bothering Tsuna, who had only spoken to the boys in passing.

"Hai?"

"Who do you think you are?" Asked Daichi.

"[1] Nani?"

"Don't act dumb, you keep hogging the spot light and [2] Otosan. You better stop it if you know what's good for you."

"[3] Wakarimasen, I don't…"

Tsuna never got to finish his sentence because Yuto, who had been inching his way behind Tsuna since the start of the conversation, suddenly grabbed his hair and twisted it.

"[4] Itai! [5] Hanashiteyo…"

Tsuna's demand for release was ignored and was instead met by a chubby fist in the face. Heiji could certainly put his weight into a punch if he had to. Tsuna looked around and was dismayed to find that while the playground was full of children, they had all gathered around to watch the "show," no one looked ready to help, instead they looked happy.

Daichi stepped forward and grabbed Tsuna's fluffy bangs and smacked him in the face.

"Otosan should be paying attention to me, not some girly looking nerd who can only sit around reading books like a freak. You back off or I hurt you."

"But I don't…"

A swift kick to the gut cut off whatever Tsuna may have had to say, as the three bullies proceeded to beat up Tsuna with the crowd of on lookers egging them on. They didn't stop until Yamamoto and Kyoko came running with Sato-sensei, it looks like a student had cared to get help after all.

End flashback

It took two more beatings from two other groups, one including girls, and multiple hurtful pranks before Tsuna finally understood why everyone seemed to hate him. It turned out to be a few reasons. 1, he out shined everyone; 2, he was friends with the cutest girl in class, Kyoko; 3, he was friends with Yamamoto Takashi; and 4, he was prettier than most of the girls. With most, it had been simple jealousy, but with Daichi it had been personal.

After the first incident and Daichi, who had been singled out as the leader, had been suspended, Sato-sensei became cold toward Tsuna, grading his assignments more harshly. Tsuna's grades started dropping only slightly because of this, but he got the message and started dumbing down his work so combined with the harsh grading it would only come out as average.

Tsuna also tried to avoid Takashi and Kyoko, but they wouldn't let him, instead, Takashi was determined to protect his quiet friend from danger.

"Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna snapped out of his musings and headed into the bathroom to get cleaned up. He decided he would wait to take the laptop apart until he had some books on them sitting in front of him, photographic memory or not, he didn't want to risk ruining his new hobby.

[1] Nani – what

[2] Otosan - father

[3] Wakarimasen – "I don't understand" or literally being the negative of "to understand"

[4] Itai - ow

[5] Hanashiteyo – basically means "let go," but literally translates to "release your hand."


	3. Birth of a Hacker

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 3: Birth of a Hacker

Three months.

Three months of books, internet searches, scrounging around for tools and invasive machine surgeries had made Tsuna quite comfortable with taking apart his laptop and putting it back together. The technology intrigued him, and he found that it was faster and easier to learn new things on a computer, like English and Spanish.

Tsuna also discovered the wonders of online shopping, finding all sorts of mechanical toys he could only dream of tinkering with, but he hit a snag, money. While his mother had said money was abundant, he didn't dare risk over using her credit card (all it took was a little careful observation and it was easy to figure out how to use) so he had to find a way to earn it. Of course it didn't take long for our child genius to come up with an answer.

He was amazed at how much money companies were willing to cough up to those who would post advertisements for them on various internet blogs. One quick PayPal account, a fake name, and 1,230 yen ($15) a post and Tsuna was earning 24,590 yen ($300) a day from a couple hours work. That combined with a post office mailbox and a staff that though he was running errands for his mother tied everything up neatly. Everything was quick and easy, but then he ran into another snag. How do you keep the government from catching on to a six year old turning out a six figure salary?

It is then Tsuna discovered his true calling

Hacking.

He kept it simple at first, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention. Starting with getting free memberships to little things like blogs and movie site, but he quickly moved into creating an entirely new identity for himself.

And thus Yoshie was born.

"Moo, why does Iemitsu have to work so far from home?"

Tsuna paused in sneaking in with his latest plunder.

A new iPhone and a small hand held butane torch that resembled a pen. The iPhone would be for personal use, after he finished examining it; after all, it was more portable than his tiny laptop and allowed him to explore his hacking methods on the go. The torch however, well Tsuna wanted to try and… never mind.

"[1] Sore wa nan desu ka, okaasan?"

"Oh, Tsu-kun. I didn't know you were there."

"Okaasan?"

"Don't worry about it sweetheart, Okaasan just misses Otosan a little bit."

Tsuna didn't say anything and just headed up to his room. There wasn't anything he could do for his mother when she got this way. All he could do was retreat into his room until she…

Maybe he could do something.

Nana was convinced that Iemitsu worked in oil fields around the world, but Tsuna wasn't too sure. It hadn't been that long since Iemitsu had last been to visit (which is why Nana's so depressed, the memory of him being there is still fresh) and Tsuna was sure he could get a hold of the flight records.

"Sawada Iemitsu, let's see… no…no…n- YES."

"Tsu-kun, is everything alright up there?"

"Hai."

Now all Tsuna had to do was do a little virtual tracking and he could pin point Iemitsu exact location… except Iemitsu seemed to disappear after his flight arrived in Italy. Never the less, Tsuna kept digging.

KHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHR

Even as tired as he was from three weeks of minimum sleep, Tsuna was still able to both pass a test and purposely sabotage it so he only got 70 percent. Countless internet searches and attempts to reach out to other hackers he had discovered had yielded little results other than a name, or at least he thought it was a name.

Vongola.

Due to his search taking him to Italy, Tsuna took it upon himself to learn a fifth language, Italian. From what he had learned, vongola was the Italian word for clam. Was his father working with a clam company?

Regardless of the lack of results, Tsuna was determined to find his answers, one way or another.

"Tsuna-kun."

Tsuna looked up to see one of his only two friends, Kyoko, looking at him with what he could only describe as concern. Her pretty orange eyes and matching hair only served to make the look even more effective.

"Hai?"

"[2] Daijoubu?"

"[3] Daijoubu da."

"[4] Hontou?"

"[5] Un."

"Really Kyoko, there's nothing to worry about." [6] _Tabun._

Tsuna gave Kyoko a small smile, which she returned, but she continued to look worried throughout the rest of the day until recess.

Tsuna would be alone today because Takashi had to stay after class for falling asleep and Kyoko was going to check and make sure her brother, Ryohei, hadn't gotten in any fights. Tsuna didn't like being alone on the playground ever since the incident with Daichi, but new it couldn't be helped.

He sat under the usual Sakura tree and started reading a book on self defense methods. He found the section on pepper spray especially interesting…

"[7] Oy, [8] shonen. Can you point me in the direction of the main office?"

Tsuna looked up to see a smiling foreign looking man. He had a pleasant enough face to go with his green eyes and nice smile. The blonde hair kind of reminded him of Iemitsu. He hated him already.

"It's the big building with the flag in front of it."

"[9] Arigatou, how about I get you some ice cream for your help."

Tsuna took a hesitant step back, warning bells going off in his head. Something about this guy didn't feel as harmless as he appeared. Tsuna looked around to see the playground mostly empty and those who were there didn't bother to pay attention to the resident out cast.

"Now, now. Don't be like that." _How is such a pitiful kid a possible successor?_

The foreign man went to grab Tsuna's arm, but was met with a blinding pain, literally. Tsuna looked down at the can of pepper spray in his hand and shrugged.

"I guess it does work."

"You damn brat, I'll kill you."

"Or not…"

The man was still furiously rubbing at his eyes, but he could see Tsuna's outline. Once again, however, his attempt to grab Tsuna was stopped by a horrific pain.

This time in his crotch.

"[10] Kamikorosu."

[1] Sore wa nan desu ka – basically just "what is it?"

[2] Daijoubu – "are you ok?" or otherwise relating to one's health or well being.

[3] Daijoubu da – "I'm alright."

[4] Hontou – "really."

[5] Un – "yeah." Informal way to say yes.

[6] Tabun – "maybe." Often used when one is uncertain.

[7] Oy – "hey."

[8] Shonen – "boy" or used for baby faced teens.

[9] Arigatou – "thank you."

[10] Kamikorosu – "I'll bite you to death," you know who says this XD.

(AN: I've decided to get a lot of Tsuna's back story done early, so there is less confusion when I get into the meat of the story. Like, "how did Tsuna find out about the Vongola" and "when did he learn how to hack." These are questions I've had when reading smart hacker Tsuna stories and I just wanted to clarify it. Don't worry though; I don't plan on staying in the past long, just long enough to get him acquainted with some of the major characters that would be in Japan at this time. Since I don't like post future arc much, I may not include that, but we will definitely be seeing Byakuran and Shoichi later on. I will admit I got the pepper spray idea from "The Mafia Wants You," but I have no intention of mooching off of someone else's story, I just thought the pepper spray was the best way for Tsuna to defend himself until he got to know Hibari a little better. Oh yeah, someone said something about my use of Otosan and Okaasan as mother and father, I know that some use Haha and Chichi to refer to their parents, but from what I understand their synonymous. Anyway, this should be the end of some of the tedious stuff so more plot relevant points from here on out.)


	4. Hibari likes small animals

0Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 4: Hibari likes small animals

The first time Hibari noticed Tsuna, was when he was being beaten up by Daichi and his little group of cohorts. Tsuna had been nothing special to him, incredibly smart and potentially useful later on, but nothing that really caught his attention.

When Tsuna's grades started to lower, Hibari knew he had been right to ignore the beating, after all, if the boy didn't have enough back bone to defend himself, than why should Hibari bother. Somehow, though, it didn't feel right. Like he wanted to help Tsuna, but his pride wouldn't let him.

So Hibari settled on spying on the fluffy haired herbivore.

No matter how weak he was, the boy intrigued him, never without a book, sometimes in different languages, and always looking at the world with an inquisitive eye. Sawada Tsunayoshi was unique, even if Hibari would never admit it.

The black haired boy couldn't help but allow his steal blue eyes to follow the fascinating creature, this…

Rabbit or kitten?

He couldn't decide. While the boy was skittish like a rabbit most of the time, there was a hidden fire in his eyes, just waiting to be unleashed. In that way, the boy reminded him of a kitten, small and weak, but determined to grow into powerful legs that would allow him to reach the top, even if he was forever cursed to a diminutive body.

Perhaps that's why Hibari was so fixated on the boy; after all, Hibari had a secret liking for small animals, even if he would never admit it.

Hibari watched the herbivore slowly transform into an omnivore, as he gather books from the self defense section of Namimori Public Library. He had snorted at first, thinking the boy foolish for even considering a book enough to teach defense. At least until he witnessed the small, helpless herbivore bring a fully grown man to his knees with pepper spray.

And that was it. All Hibari Kyoya could think as he preceded to smash the would be kidnappers crotch was… _mine._

KHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHR

"Kamikorosu."

"Hibari-san?"

Standing behind the collapsed kidnapper/pervert was the one and only Hibari Kyoya. At just 9-years-old he had already amassed a reputation for being head of playground discipline. The teachers were too scared to try and punish him. No surprise, considering he just used his practice tonfas to smash some guys… yeah.

"How is it an herbivore like you attracted such pray?"

"[1] Uno… shirimasen."

"Kyo-san, I've contacted the staff and they've call the… is that pepper spray?"

A slightly older boy with grey eyes and a regent hair style, who Tsuna recognized to by Hibari's right hand, Kusakabe, came toward them from the school building. Behind him several teachers could be seen heading their way.

"Oh, hai. I read it's good for self defense."

Tsuna stuck the bottle back in his pants pocket, he didn't want to risk the grownups asking any questions and figuring out his system so soon after he set it up.

"Not bad." Hibari smirked.

Tsuna looked at Hibari and then the teachers whom were just now getting to the scene. He didn't completely understand it, but it felt as if Hibari had just acknowledged him.

"[2] Kami-sama. Tsunayoshi-kun, are you alright?"

"Hai, some man tried to take me away for ice cream, but Hibari-san stopped him."

That was all that needed to be said as the three boys were placed in Sato-sensei's classroom and told to wait while they talked to the police.

"So where'd you get the pepper spray?"

Tsuna looked at Kusakabe and started weighing his options. He was fairly certain that neither of the two older boys would rat him out, both being involved in questionable activities for grade schoolers themselves. Besides that, Hibari could help him with ground work and self defense; after all, his father had been a yakuza before he died.

"I ordered it online, under a false name."

"Where'd you get the money?" Hibari's eyes narrowed.

"Earned it under the same false name, doing internet jobs and using a PayPal account."

Both older boys stared for a moment before Hibari smirked and held out his hand.

"I believe we could be of some help to each other."

Tsuna wheezed as he forced his legs to keep moving on the treadmill. This wasn't what he had in mind when he agreed to let Hibari teach him how to fight, but he didn't dare complain. The two of them worked out a deal. Hibari would teach Tsuna how to fight and look up any possible connection between Vongola and the yakuza, in exchange for Tsuna's tech support in establishing a disciplinary comity and earning funds.

Takashi and Kyoko had repeatedly asked him why he was so tired lately, but Tsuna thought it would be better to keep them in the dark. Especially if he was right and his father was the reason he had been targeted, somehow it didn't seem like the guy was a run of the mill perv.

"Tsunayoshi-kun." Kusakabe came into Hibari's gym holding a file.

"H-hai?" Taking a quick look at Hibari to be sure it was ok, Tsuna slowed down the treadmill to a brisk walk instead of an outright run. It would be easier to talk that way.

"I was going through some of the paper's Kyo-san's father left and one of them mentions the Vongola. I don't think you'll like what it says."

Hibari looked at Tsuna and nodded his head, so Tsuna turned off the treadmill and took the file Kusakabe offered him. Flipping it open Tsuna knew it would be bad, but he didn't realize how bad.

"Biggest mafia famiglia in the world, my father works for the mafia?"

"It would appear so, Tsunayoshi-kun."

"No wonder I couldn't hack into anything associated with it, they have to have some of the best hackers in the… Good thing I tried that in the Namimori Public Library."

Kusakabe looked faintly amused, while Hibari just raised an eyebrow and looked at the treadmill.

"Now you have your answers, get back to work." Tsuna just sighed an obeyed. "I want you to be the best hacker, so you don't have to worry about anyone possibly tracking you down, but I also want you to be able to take care of yourself so I don't have to worry about some mildly useful omnivore all of the time."

Both Kusakabe and Tsuna couldn't help but stare. Of the three, Kusakabe could be considered the most talkative as both Tsuna and Hibari tended to be on the quiet side. To hear Hibari talking so much usually meant he was excited about something.

"Kyo-san, are you making a project out of Tsunayoshi-kun?"

"…"

"I don't know if I should be happy or scared about that."

KHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHRKHR

"Oy, Tsuna?"

"Hmm."

"You've been hanging out with Hibari a lot lately."

Tsuna looked up from his book on the internal workings of a combustion engine and turned his gaze to his taller friend. Takashi's normally carefree light brown eyes held a semblance of concern in them as he continued to stare at Tsuna. Tsuna noticed the baseball fanatic wasn't looking at his face and followed his gaze to the purple and yellow bruise on his left arm.

_Oh._ "It's nothing Takashi, Kyoya-san and I just get along, that's all."

Takashi's eyes widened and Tsuna winced as the words slipped out of his mouth. Not because he was planning on keeping his interaction with Kyoya a secret (even if he was planning on holding off on telling them about the lesson, maybe he should tell Takashi, but not Kyoko), but because of the way he said the name.

"Kyo… Tsuna, Hibari doesn't let anyone say his name."

"He lets Kusakabe say it and he recently said I could."

"Ok. I just worry a little when you show up with bruises. Ma ma, I guess there isn't anything to worry about if you say it isn't." Takashi ran a hand through his short black hair and rubbed the back of his head. "I just wish you had told me sooner."

"[3] Gomen."

"Ha ha and here I thought you were doing better about saying more than one word in a sentence."

Tsuna just shrugged and looked back at his book. Car engines were a lot bigger than his tiny laptop, and it looked both more and less complicated at the same time. He would have to go to the junk yard, or ask Kyoya to help him get one. He knew his first legal car wouldn't come his way for another eight or nine years, but he had a feeling he'd be operating a motor vehicle sooner than that with how involved he was with Kyoya's budding disciplinary committee. He wasn't terribly worried about the legalities anyway, not with all the illegal hacking into the government database he's been doing for the last two months.

Well, he was the son of a Mafioso.

"Oh by the way Tsuna, I almost forgot to say happy birthday.

"[4] San kyuu."

"You're so lucky your birthday is so soon after the school year ends. Ha ha, now you have the entire break to enjoy being eight."

Now he had the entire break to work on gathering info on the Vongola and the yakuza.

[1] Uno – "um."

[2] Kami-sama – "god," generally used as Japanese equivalent of "oh my god."

[3] Gomen – "sorry."

[4] San kyuu – this is how someone with a Japanese accent says thank you in English.

(Now we have two guardians introduced. I plan on really bringing in Ryohei in the next chapter and I plan on making him a big brother figure, like in the cannon series. As far as the other guardians are concerned, Tsuna won't be meeting them until I reach cannon time, for the most part. I've been playing with the idea of introducing one more guardian, but I won't say who because if I do I've already decided on who it will be and I don't want to ruin the surprise. As far as romance goes, I'm sure you notice the whole Hibari calling Tsuna his, and I do like 1827, but somehow I keep thinking of this as a 182769 fic, and not in a pervy way. My reasoning is both Hibari and Mukuro need Tsuna as an anchor because neither of the cannon (or story) characters are very stable, and someone like Tsuna gives a little light for the darkness. And just to clarify, the reason I've been able to get so much of the story out in such a short time is because its spring break and I have a lot of free time right now. I'm not rushing; I just like to get my thoughts out of my head and onto the paper so I don't lose them. I hope to get the meat of the story out by the end of spring break and with the back story just about done, I think I'll be able to do it.)


	5. Niisan, The Mighty Brawler

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 5: Nii-san, The Mighty Brawler

"[1] Onii-chan, breakfast is ready."

Kyoko heard the loud bangs of her brother's footsteps as he came downstairs and plugged her ears.

"[2] Yoshi, an EXTREME breakfast for an EXTREME day!"

Kyoko giggled at Ryohei's antics and set the table. Since their parents went to work early, it often fell on eight-year-old Kyoko to fix breakfast and make lunch bentos. In fact, the only time the siblings ever really saw their parents was dinner time meals, and even that was scarce.

"Now remember Onii-chan, you…"

"Promised not to get in any fight today, I know."

Kyoko's older brother Ryohei was an avid fighter. Even though he was only nine-years-old, the white haired, grey eyed boy was already starting to make a name for himself with some of the upper classmen, but not a good name.

"Alright then, [3] ikuze."

"Yoshi!"

Kyoko couldn't help but smile at Ryohei's enthusiasm, but something didn't feel quite right. Ryohei tended to be excitable and usually vibrated with energy, but it felt different today, like he was more nervous than excited.

"Daijoubu, Kyoko?"

Tsuna couldn't help but ask as he observed his friend continue to nibble on her bottom lip. The normally bubbly Kyoko was sitting quietly at Tsuna's normal table in the quiet back corner of Namimori Public Library.

"Un… tabun."

"Kyoko?"

"It's just… I think Onii-chan is in trouble."

Tsuna could believe that. He had only met the older boy twice and both times he left with a head ache. From what Tsuna understood, Ryohei was a loud brawler that went looking for fights. Kyoya was also a fighter, but he wasn't loud and he could back up the bravado.

Kyoko looked at her taciturn friend and sighed at the blank look on his face. She knew it wasn't that he wasn't interested in what she was saying (he wouldn't have asked if he didn't want an answer), he just didn't show much interest in anything, on the outside at least. From the subtle crease in his forehead he was paying attention, but the subject wasn't something that immediately grabbed his interest. Never the less, Tsuna normally gave good advice so she continued.

"He promised he wouldn't get in any fights today, but he was acting strange this morning. The only other time I've ever seen him so nervous was when he lied to Okaasan about where he got some bruises."

"Is… today special?"

Kyoko looked up in surprise. Normally, Tsuna just sits there and lets her vent, maybe he was more interested than she first thought.

_Tetsuya-san mentioned some upper classmen making plans to "take a noisy brat down a few pegs." Sasagawa-senpai [4] is loud and he has made some older boys angry._

It was Tsuna's turn to start worrying his bottom lip. He may not like the noisy boy much, but he didn't like the thought of his friend being upset.

"Un, Okaasan and Otosan are both supposed to be home for dinner today. Onii-chan promised not to fight so he doesn't get any cuts or bruises."

"Tetsuya-san mentioned something."

Kyoko's eyes got big and her eye brows lowered slightly.

"[5] Nani!"

"He said… some upper classmen were planning on fighting someone today. I didn't think of Sasagawa-senpai then but…"

Tsuna sighed as Kyoko ran out of the library, before he followed at a brisk pace. _Only a week into [6] spring break and things are already chaotic._

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

_Why didn't I see this coming? _Tsuna barely contained the urge to roll his eyes when the moment he and Kyoko made it to the park Ryohei likes to train in. It looked like the older boys had been waiting there for a while now, but there was no sign of Ryohei. _We shouldn't have come, I only have a couple weeks of endurance training, Kyoya-san hasn't taught me much about fighting yet, and they're really big. _Never the less, Tsuna placed himself in a protective stance in front of Kyoko.

"Oy, isn't that Sasagawa's imoto?" Asked the fattest boy.

A tall, lanky red head (Tsuna assumed he was the leader), gave a crooked smile as he looked at the two eight-year-olds.

"Yeah, it is."

Tsuna took another look around and took a complete mental stock of the situation. There were five fourth graders of various sizes surrounding the two first graders. Even though the red head looked to be the leader, Tsuna doubted these boys hung out together regularly from the awkward way they interacted. More likely, Ryohei had beaten each of them on different occasions and the decided to "unite" against a common enemy.

"Oy, EXTREMELY stay away from Kyoko and he friend, or I'll EXTREMELY kick your butts."

_I thought the hero was supposed to make a dramatic and _cool _entrance. _Tsuna thought dryly as turned his attention to Ryohei. _Whatever._

"It isn't safe Kyoko, you and Sawada should EXTREMELY run…"

Ryohei stopped as he saw the look on Kyoko's face. He knew he would end up paying for this in more ways than one.

"Onii-chan! You promised you wouldn't fight to day, so why are you…"

"Ha ha ha."

It was Kyoko's turn to trail off as the red head started laughing, followed soon by his entourage.

"I didn't know the great Sasagawa Ryohei was whipped by his imoto. How pathetic. Ha ha ha."

The boys decided to ignore Kyoko and Tsuna and began advancing on Ryohei. Despite himself, Tsuna couldn't help but be a little worried for the severely outnumbered older boy. He may not like Ryohei much, but he did respect that he could take care of himself in a fight with older boys and that he took good care of Kyoko.

_Maybe I should… No. Kyoya-san would never forgive me if I used his phone number to protect Sasagawa-senpai, even if it did give him a few opponents._ Even with that thought in mind, Tsuna couldn't help but reach a hand into his pocket and grip his iPhone before he remembered something Kyoya told him a couple of days ago.

Flashback

Tsuna groaned as Hibari landed another blow on his left arm. _At least he's using the wooden tonfas instead of the metal ones._

"If you're going to be of any use, you'll need to be able to take a blow." Was all Kyoya said before proceeding to whack Tsuna on various parts of his body. Tsuna could understand the concept of conditioning, but he couldn't help but curse Kyoya in his head.

After about five minute of this, Tsuna realized that his limbs were starting to go numb and glance at Kyoya, only to see him smirking. _What the…_

"I see you noticed."

"What did you do?" Kyoya's hits hadn't been hard enough to make his limbs go numb so quickly, and he was pretty sure none of the big nerves had been hit.

"If you hit a joint, it sends a shock through the body and the limb can slowly go numb."

Tsuna nodded in understanding.

"The harder you hit, the greater the affect. I'm teaching you this because you are still weak and this is a good way to take down a larger opponent. The best spot to hit is the back of the neck if you can, with enough force it'll knock your opponent out completely."

"What if there's a large group?"

"Go for the leader."

End flashback

"Ahh!"

Tsuna snapped out of his musings in time to see Ryohei take a hard blow to the upper left side of his head. He winced as blood ran down the white haired boys' bruised face.

Tsuna looked around for anything he could use, knowing he wasn't strong enough or tall enough to do anything with his bare hands (he was glad that Kyoya had decided to work on his strength and endurance first, that would make it a little easier to put some force behind a blow), and spotted a metal pipe one of the older boys had dropped during the scuffle.

"[8] Dame…"

Tsuna looked behind him and saw tears freely running down Kyoko's face.

"You bastard, let me go!" Ryohei swore as the red head grabbed him under his shoulders.

The red heads back was facing Tsuna and the metal pipe was in between them.

"Oof." The fat boy landed a kick in Ryohei's stomach.

_Thwack. Thump._

In a matter of seconds chaos turned to dead silence as Tsuna stood over the fallen body of the red head, metal pipe still in the striking position. The other boys and Kyoko could only stare for a few more moments before the still conscious upper classmen decided it wasn't worth it to stick around and ran off.

"Sawada…"

"Onii-chan!"

Kyoko ran past Tsuna and straight toward Ryohei.

"Kyoko! Are you-"

_Smack_

Even Tsuna's eyebrows shot up as Kyoko landed a slap on Ryohei's face.

"You-you promised you wouldn't fight today, but you still came here!"

"But if I-"

"Don't. You didn't know we would be here. You decided to come on your own, and now look at you. This is what happens when you go around picking fights with everyone!"

_Only if you can't back it up._ Tsuna though dryly. _Five or not, Kyoya-san would have creamed those guys. _Now that the danger had passed, Tsuna was content to sit back and watch the show.

"I-I'm… gomen Kyoko."

"Don't "gomen Kyoko" me Onii-chan! I want you to swear you'll never fight again!"

_That's a little harsh._

"Kyoko that's- but I-"

"No buts. If you don't promise I'll-"

"He could always join a martial arts club or gym."

The Sasagawa siblings turned to stare at the fluffy haired [9] chibi (lol, I couldn't help it).

"But that still fighting."

"But it's not a brawl. Martial arts has rules and stuff like this is strictly forbidden."

Kyoko turned her attention from Tsuna back to her brother and leveled him with a searching look that didn't belong on the face of a seven-year-old. His eyes begged for forgiveness and acceptance and she couldn't help but sigh. No matter how much she hated it, her brother lived to fight.

"Fine, but if you ever get in another street brawl, I'll never forgive you."

The relief Ryohei exuded was palpable as the siblings embraced.

Tsuna, feeling uncomfortable at the sight of the familial affection, decided it was time he left.

"Oy, Sawada."

"Sasagawa-senpai?"

"I want to thank you for your EXTREME help. If it wasn't for you I would have been EXTREME trouble."

"It was nothing, Sasagawa-senpai."

"Oy, call me [10] Nii-san. You're EXTREMELY like family now."

Tsuna wasn't sure how to respond to that, but seeing the hopeful look on the siblings face made him cave.

"Alright then, Nii-san."

"EXTREME!"

_What a headache. Oh well, I guess he isn't _that _bad._

As Tsuna and the Sasagawa siblings headed separate ways to go home, Tsuna spotted a black sleeve poking out from behind a tree and headed toward it.

"Somehow I knew you'd end up here."

"Hn."

Another reason Tsuna had decided not to call Kyoya earlier was because he was fairly certain the carnivore would already be there. He never missed an exciting fight if he could help it, but that begged the question…

"If you went to all of the trouble to come out here, why didn't you get involved?"

"I wanted to see what you would do."

Kyoya wasn't even looking at him, but Tsuna could see the slightest curvature of his lips. It wasn't quite a smile, but it was as close to it (other than a smirk) someone like Kyoya would get.

"So how did I do?"

"You hesitated to act, but were smart and waited for an opportunity to present itself. You are still weak and inexperienced in direct combat, sneaky maneuvers like that suit you better at the moment."

"You know, you talk more around me."

"Hn. I believe the reverse is also true."

Although he hadn't said it outright, it sounded like Kyoya was proud of him. That thought put a small genuine smile on Tsuna's lips. It seemed that both semi-apathetic boys could understand and open up to each other.

"Has Yoshie found anything new on the Vongola?"

Tsuna sighed.

"It's been a slow process because I've had to digitally scramble my position using the library and café computers so no one can pinpoint my location, but I have been able to dig into some of the top layers of security."

"How long will it be before you can get in and out unnoticed?"

"They know someone's been attempting to hack in and have been upping their security, but luckily I'm getting used to their programmers style and it's getting easier. They'll probably start downloading their files onto a different system soon, but by the time they do that, I'll be able to find and hack into it with relative ease to get all the info we need on my father's involvement and your fathers' yakuza connection."

"What about the other mafia families?"

"I did find something interesting about an Estraneo Famiglia research facility in Japan…"

[1] Onii-chan – affectionate way to say big brother.

[2] Yoshi – pronounce yoash, it's generally an exclamation of excitement, like "alright." I know it's spelt the same as the Yoshi in Tsunayoshi, but I think the kanji is different as well as the pronunciation.

[3] Ikuze – "let's go"

[4] Senpai – "upper classmen."

[5] Nani – "What."

[6] The Japanese school year is normally divided into three terms, with the first one starting in April and the last one ending in March. Graduation, enrollment, and class changes take place during this time. Oh yeah, I know I made mention of Tsuna's birth day in the last chapter, but I really don't know when it is. So if it isn't in March, don't bite my head off.

[7] Imoto – "little sister."

[8] Dame – "no," "stop," or "it's bad." Generally a term of distress.

[9] Chibi – "cute," "shorty," or someone who is childlike in appearance.

[10] Nii-san – "Big brother," slightly less affectionate than Onii-chan, but more so than the formal unisex term Aniki people like Gokudera use for older siblings they either have a lot of respect for, or aren't as close to.

(A.N. As far as Japanese worlds go, I try to use ones that are fairly common in the fanfic world or are easy to interpret from the situation. I'm finishing this and staring blankly at number six, wondering if I should keep to the past or do a small time skip (not to cannon time). Either way, I've decided to add one of the Italian guardians to the mix (you're free to guess, though the last line should make it obvious) because I think I'll have a hard time introducing him later and getting him to be a guardian with the personality I've mapped out for Tsuna. I'm thinking I should solidify his relationship with Hibari first, but I also want to set things up so Hibari won't be to violently possessive yet. I also don't think the two (or four if you count Kusakabe and Yamamoto) are ready to go get him. What do you think?)


	6. Trust

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Ages – I know Tsuna's birth day is different.

Tsuna – 12 (March 14, 2000, I know its October 14, but I want it to be March in this fic, I have a reason, be patient.)

Reborn – ? (March 13, ?, His birth day is a day before Tsuna's so I'm switching it from October 13 to February 16. From what he looks like as an adult and how old Aria is, I'd say he's somewhere in his 50's.)

Hayato Gokudera – 12 (September 9, 1999)

Takashi – 12 (April 24, 1999, still spring break and the Japanese school year normally starts April 1 so he's the right age to be in Tsuna's grade, even if he's almost an entire year older)

Ryohei – 13 (August 26, 1998)

Kyoko – 12 (March 4, 2000)

Kyoya – 13 (May 5, 1998)

Tetsuya – 14 (December 31, 1997, his is unknown)

Mukuro – 15 (June 9, 1996)

Chrome – 14 (December 5, 1997)

Ken – 14 (July 21, 1997, based on star sign)

Chikusa – 14 (October 26, 1997)

Lambo – 3 (May 28, 2008)

I-Pin – 3 (November 25, 2008)

Xanxus (ha ha (X)an(x)us, anus, that's gold) – 28 (actual), 22 (physical due to being trapped in ice) (October 10, 1983)

Squalo – 26 (March 13, 1986)

Shoichi – 12 (December 3, 1999)

Spanner - ?

Fuuta – 6 (January 11, 2006)

Dino – 16 (February 4, 1996)

Haru – 12 (May 3, 1999)

Basil – 12 (July 23, 1999)

Hana – 12 (April 1, 1999, based on star sign)

Shamal – 40 (He's an Aquarius so I'm going with February 14, 1972)

The other Arcobaleno – ? (all appear to be somewhere in their early to mid 20's, 30 at most in their adult forms, but Aria is currently in her early to mid 20's so the original arcobaleno are all in their 40's and 50's.)

The rest of the Varia may be included later, but remember Fran is only Fuuta's age at this point.

(A.N. I only just realized my ages may be off a little. Due to the Japanese school system, Tsuna and the gang were 14-year-old, first year middle schoolers. Now Tsuna being seven in a second grade class is normal here in the US, but if you do the math with 6 elementary school grades in Japanese schools, he'll only be 12 at the beginning of cannon time. I'm going back to the beginning and fixing it because I want to stay true to the time frame, so don't be surprised if things are a little different grade and age wise. I thought the least confusing way to change it was to make the one year older and one grade level lower, if you get confused just ask.)

Chapter 6: Trust

4 years later

_Thump. Step. Whack._

Kyoya and Tsuna were sparing in silence, both of them needing to relieve some stress. Tetsuya was standing off to the side, watching in amazement at the grace and fluidity of the two younger boy's movements. Although there wasn't much of an age difference between the three, there was enough height difference that one would think Tetsuya, who was at least 5 inches taller than Kyoya and 7 inches taller than Tsuna would have an advantage in a fight, but he didn't.

_It's hard to believe Tsunayoshi-kun has come so far in the last few years._

When Kyoya and Tetsuya first started teaching the boy he was weak with little endurance, with flexibility and speed being his only advantage. Even though his physical strength was still nothing compared to the monster Hibari Kyoya, he had no problem knocking out a fully grown man with a single punch. Not that his speed or flexibility had suffered, no, Kyoya was good at recognizing talent and trained Tsuna to move in a way Tetsuya could only equate with a ninja, including his weapons preference.

_Pepper spray, taser, knockout darts in his watch, a butterfly knife, and his personal favorite, darts filled with various poisons and sedatives. That combined with the various techno gadgets he keeps in his bottomless pockets and Tsunayoshi-kun is a walking arsenal… well he doesn't carry any guns._

"Tetsuya-san."

Tetsuya snapped out of his musings and turned his attention back to the pair. They had stopped sparring and were walking toward him. Tetsuya reached down and picked up the towels and water bottles off of the bench next to him and divided them between the two. He knew that wasn't the only reason Tsuna bothered to speak up, so he got started on his report.

"The Disciplinary Committee has now been official for an entire school year. Everything has been set up so that when Kyo-san joins us in April he will be immediately placed at the head. Only one member attempted to object and has been dismissed as per Kyo-san's orders."

Kyoya smirked. "The Student Council?"

"Are following our orders and have put up no objections. As for Tsunayoshi-kun, no one is questioning him coming in as the DC secretary in the following year. No one other than the DC members have any knowledge of what other activities he will be participating in and the member who was dismissed has been informed that any information leaks will be met with severe punishment. Other than that, I have informed anyone who has any subsequent questions about Tsunayoshi-kun to direct them to you, Kyo-san."

It was Tsuna's turn to smirk now. No one would dare question Kyoya to his face.

Even after openly becoming friends with Kyoya and Tetsuya, Tsuna had decided it would be best to keep a low profile, meaning average grades in all subjects. As far as anyone was concerned, he was Kyoya's weak little pet. Of course this made him a prime target for Kyoya's enemies, for a little while.

In the first two months of Kyoya and Tetsuya (and Tsuna as a background character no one knew about) setting up the ground work for the Disciplinary Committee, Tsuna was attacked five times.

At just nine-years-old and only being under Kyoya's tutelage for a year, Tsuna hadn't been confident in his ability to take on older groups and decided it would be best to pepper spray his assailants and run the first time. The second time, they wore sunglasses (they assumed Kyoya gave Tsuna the pepper spray), but the glasses didn't cover enough to stop the pepper spray. The third time, they wore goggles, and Tsuna decided to use his new taser (again they assumed Kyoya gave it to him). The fourth time, Ryohei and Kyoko were their (Kyoko gave him permission to fight only if it was for self defense) and Ryohei proceeded to put two 15-year-old boys in the hospital. The last time anyone tried to get to Kyoya through Tsuna, Kyoya showed up (enough said).

By this point in time, Tsuna was more confident in his ability to take care of himself, but the agreement between him and Kyoya required him to remain inconspicuous and unsuspicious. He had to maintain a "normal kid" persona so as not to draw to much attention to himself and his extracurricular activities.

"As for Yamamoto-kun and Sasagawa-kun…"

Tsuna narrowed his eyes. "What about them?"

"It seems they've been following come DC members again. When I questioned the two, they claimed to be worried about your well being."

Sigh. "Takashi and Nii-san haven't given up."

Tetsuya looked at Tsuna and decided to give his opinion on the matter.

"If I may, Tsunayoshi-kun, I believe it would be beneficial to bring them into the fold."

"Why."

Tetsuya shivered. It was never a good idea to piss off Sawada Tsunayoshi. It wasn't easy to do, but the DC members who had the _displeasure _of seeing a pissed off Tsuna tended to give the chibi a wide berth for at least two weeks after.

"I don't mean officially, but the two could be useful in the upcoming operation and in keeping an eye on the sports clubs."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow, this was a new argument. Normally Tetsuya focused on Takashi's and Ryohei's athletic abilities and skills in the martial arts. "Takashi I can understand, but you want the famously hyperactive freshman captain of the boxing club to _spy_ on people."

"I was thinking they could do what they do best." Seeing he had both boys interest, Tetsuya continued. "Yamamoto-kun has an external persona of someone who is trust worthy and easy to approach. He's the kind of person others will confide in without realizing his darker nature."

Both nodded. While Takashi was genuinely kind, he was a natural when it came to deception and combat. His self restraint coupled with the sword skills, which he never told anyone his father taught him, made him a perfect stealth agent.

"Sasagawa-kun, on the other hand, is loud and obnoxious, something that both draws people in and pushes them away. Like Yamamoto-kun, he has a natural charisma that makes people want to trust him, so no one would suspect him to mean any intentional harm if his exercise routine diverted right into the path of any miss behavior and then 'unintentionally' alerted the DC of said activities."

While Kyoya looked bored, Tetsuya could tell he liked the plan. Kyoya was the time of person who didn't tend to depend on sneaky methods, preferring to be more direct, but he could appreciate any number of skills that could help him achieve his goal of becoming the law of Namimori (I already have a little something planned that explains why he keeps to Namimori and later outside of Japan).

Tsuna, on the other hand, looked both intrigued and apprehensive. Since the beginning, he had been attempting to keep his more "normal" friends out of the DC and mafia business. He recognized early on that Takashi and Ryohei had exceptional talent, even if their general personalities seemed to contradict with the cut throat business. That being said, he had good reasons to keep his two sets of friends separate.

Ryohei promised Kyoko he would never get involved in another brawl outside the rules and regulations of boxing and Ryohei had kept that promise.

Takashi was the only relative his father had left, and getting involved in the mafia isn't a good way to keep one's self alive.

If it became known either was involved with the DC, it would be very easy to target Kyoko or Takashi's father.

Both were incredibly talented in their respective sports and being associated with any criminal activities is a good way to end their budding careers prematurely.

"I know it's supposed to be small, but they're the best besides yourself and Kyo-san to execute Project E."

Tetsuya could see Tsuna wavering. They all knew that Tsuna would cave to bringing in Takashi and Ryohei eventually. It had been a matter of discussion for nearly two years and each time they talked about it, Tsuna argued less and less.

"If I bring them into the fold, they'll want to know everything."

"Fine."

"I should have known you'd agree to something like this, Kyoya-san."

KHRKHRKHRKHRKHR

"… and that's why I've been doing the last four years. So, what do you say, wanna help?"

Takashi and Ryohei could only stare at Tsuna dumbfounded as he dropped everything on the at once. Although neither one of them was very smart, they had suspected Tsuna was more connected to the budding Nami-chuu (they call it that in the anime sometimes, you can hear it if you pay attention) Disciplinary Committee, but they would have never guess just how involved he really was.

"So you're a…"

"Yes."

"And your fathers a…"

"That's right."

"And Hibari…

"Mmm hmm."

"Uh, one question." Ryohei raised his hand slightly.

"Yes, Nii-san?"

"Why are you telling us this now?"

"I believe I told you what Tetsuya-san thinks you can offer the DC." Tsuna hoped he could leave it at that, but knew he couldn't.

"But that's not all there is to it, is there." Takashi's eyes that were normally bright with laughter were harsh and focused. Simple minded he may be, but matters concerning his friends had a tendency to give his mind a sharp focus.

Tsuna sighed. "No, I need your help with something." Neither said a word and waited for him to continue. "There's a project I've been working on, and until recently, we didn't have the means to complete it. I have all of the information I need and a plan all worked out, but the only members of the Disciplinary Committee I trust to be a part of this are Kyoya-san and Tetsuya-san. I need to stay on tech support, Tetsuya-san needs to stay behind and keep the DC members in order, and Kyoya-san needs an extra pair of eyes to watch his back." Both Takashi and Ryohei looked concerned at that, but didn't interrupt. "Normally this wouldn't be necessary, but a hundred or so grown men with biohazardous materials at their disposal may be able to get a lucky shot in, so I one or two more people to go with him."

"But why us?"

"Because I trust you."

"We'll do it."

(A. N. I don't know why, but my line breaks haven't been showing up, so I went back and re-did them on the doc manager. Scene changes can be a hassle and I like to give people some notice, so if you're reading this now and you don't know what I'm talking about, ignore it, if you do know, sorry again. As for the Japanese, I guess I could slow down; it's just that after taking a year of it in college I kind of like to show it off a little XD. For the "Mafia Wants You" thing, didn't I mention that in chapter three? Yes Tsuna is a hacker in this story, but the plot and structure are very different. If authors had to ask permission to use every plot device it would be total chaos because people wouldn't know who to ask. I don't know if anyone who's reading this has seen any of the others, but this isn't the only smart Tsuna/hacker Tsuna story out there besides "The Mafia Wants You." I decided to write this story because no one ever finishes their story, I mean, I've been following "The Mafia Wants You" for two years, _two years_, for only nine chapters. Anyway, what do you think? I thought I would be putting the next guardian in this chapter, but I thought this would be the best cut off point. Don't worry though; he'll be in the next chapter and we shall find out what exactly Project E. is. I know this chapter was kind of different, but I wanted have a real reason to draw in Takashi and Ryohei. I had already planned to have them established in the DC and Mafia life before cannon and I wanted that involvement to have more purpose than them simply being Tsuna's friends. Well, thanks for reading, please review, it helps me think. Ja ne.)


	7. Project E

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 7: Project E

'… and then I kamikorosu everyone.' Kyoya's voice rang out in the chilly night air of Tokyo.

Tsuna sighed. "This is more about stealth than brute force Kyoya-san." Sitting alone in one of the four hotel rooms they'd rented out in the Imperial Tokyo Hotel, Tsuna couldn't help but smile at the typical demon Hibari behavior.

Takeshi laughed. 'Ha ha, says the guy surrounded by computers and wires in the most expensive hotel in Japan.'

All four of them were connected using the custom headset's Tsuna designed for the mission, so whatever one here's, they all here. They also doubled as tracking devices so Tsuna would know were each member of their rag tag group was at all times.

"Don't complain, we get enjoy the luxury of private suits and all the perks of a five star hotel stay for the next week." The rooms were rented out as both a cover and a reward, they didn't want to move out of Tokyo so soon after arriving, lest they draw to much attention to themselves and they wanted to be able to enjoy their stay. "The faster we get this mission over with, the faster we can turn this into an actual vacation."

'Sawada… I've never heard you talk so much.'

"…"

'Ha ha, guess he realized it.'

The cover story was actually pretty simple. As far as anyone was concerned, Tsuna won a trip to stay in Tokyo for a week, surprisingly few questions were asked. All they had to do was drop Kyoya's name.

Flashback

**Tsuna**

"Okaasan, I'm going to Tokyo for a week."

"Will Kyoya-kun be there?

"Yes."

"Ok, be safe and bring back a souvenir."

**Ryohei**

"Okaasan. Otosan. I'm gonna do some EXTREME training in EXTREME Tokyo."

"But Ryohei, this is so sudden."

"I know, but EXTEME Hibari will be there and he's the most EXTREME opponent."

"Hi-Hibari-san will b-be there."

"EXTREMELY yes."

"O-oh well, wh-who are w-we to st-stop you."

"EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME."

**Takeshi**

"Hey, Otosan, is it ok if I go to Tokyo for a week?"

"What in the world would you do there, and what about your training."

"Ah, well, Hibari will be there and-"

"Hibari huh. Not a bad opponent to test you strength on. Alright then, be back in a week and show me some improvement."

"Ha ha. Of course."

**Kyoya**

"I'm leaving, I won't be back for a week."

"Of course, Hibari-sama."

End Flashback

"Your about thirty feet from your target entrance." Enough fooling around, time to get down to business. "Remember, we only have twenty-four hours before he pulls the plug."

'Why do we have to listen to that herbivore anyway?'

Sigh. "Because we agreed to the boundary lines two years ago."

'What are you guys talking about?' Takeshi was curious about who this "he" was.

"Nothing/'hn'."

*sweat drop*

'Ha…ha…' Takeshi sounded a little nervous.

_Beep… beep… beep…_

Tsuna turned his attention back to the screen in front of him. The decryption code he'd been working on was finished. He now had access to all of the security cameras in the compound and proceeded to put the necessary ones on a play back loop.

"Camera's are set." He checked the markers on his digital map. "You should be directly to the entrance platform. From the files, it should be a small trap door that isn't use often, so no one else should be in the area."

KHRKHRKHRKHR

"Ma Hibari, do you really plan to kamikorosu everyone."

"Hn."

"Ha ha."

'Quite fooling around, you have to get moving.'

"Ma ma Tsuna, no worries."

Takeshi and Ryohei started patting down the ground, trying to find the trap door as Kyoya stood off to the side, keeping watch. It didn't take long for Takeshi to find a metal spot in the dark patch of grass. Lifting it up, they found an unlit stair case leading down.

"Good thing Sawada gave us these fancy glasses."

"Ha ha, yeah. We'd be lost without them."

"Hn."

The glasses were a partner device to the head sets. The glasses were designed to allow multiple function; night vision, infrared vision, zoom, record, and camera. The internal power source meant they could function without re-charge for up to 36 hours. They could be separated, but keeping them connected allowed Tsuna to broad cast a map or written across the left frame if it became necessary to cut audio.

As the three descended into the bunker they grew silent and moved cautiously but quickly. As Tsuna said, this part of the bunker was pretty much deserted and they didn't encounter so much as a security camera until they reached a branching passageway.

'Don't worry the cameras on a loop. The only one who can see you is me.' Tsuna passed for a second and they could hear some tapping. 'Bank left and continue going straight, don't make any turns until you reach a door, it should open up into a large, open circular space filled with doors.'

It took them nearly ten minutes to reach the door. They opened it up and there were fourteen other doors forming a half circle around the room, each of the doors had about two meters between them.

'Seven of these are dummy doors meant to confuse and get rid of intruders. Of the eight real doors, the one on the far left leads to sleeping quarters, four doors to the right of that leads to a stair case that will take you to the cells for the living experiments and storage, directly to the right of that is a passage that leads to labs dealing in machinery, three to the right of that leads to labs dealing in biohazardous materials, and the last working door is the second to last on the right leading to labs dealing with human experiments. The rest of the doors, including the one you just came out of, lead to various entrances to the bunker. The rest of the area is actually a loading elevator. Once you're done, I can just lift you guys out using it.

It's approaching midnight, so there's only a skeleton crew left awake to keep an eye on the biohazards lab and the engineering lab, but there's something big going on in the human experiment lab. I'm having a hard time getting visual in there, so I want you to secure the engineering lab and the biohazards lab first. I'm almost done locking down the electronic doors in general quarters and the prisoners' area, so as soon as I'm done that I'll get to work on figuring out what's going on.'

"Why don't you just do that with all of them?" Ryohei didn't understand much of the techno babble, but he did get that locking the doors would solve some problems.

'Because anyone in the labs could use chemicals or weapons to bust down the doors and potentially release dangerous materials into the air. Those air breathers I gave you can only protect against so much, so you don't want to risk anything. Luckily, all of the dangerous materials are locked up this time of night and the contaminated rooms are sealed with no one in them, so all of the active experiments in there are relatively harmless, but come 6:00 a.m. and the dangerous experiments will be started again. You only have six hours to get everything done, but if you do it right, you should be able to secure the two labs in under twenty minutes while I work on lab three done in less than two.'

"Ohhhhhh."

"Ha ha. So three labs. Should we split up?"

'Yeah, I want Takeshi and Nii-san to take the engineering lab and Kyoya-san to take the biohazards lab, but no smashing anything in either lab if you can help it. The parts could be really useful.'

"Ha ha, you're such a nerd."

'And your point…?'

"If you don't think it'll take so long to get done, why is there an EXTREME time limit?"

'I only have until midnight tomorrow to analyze everything and take what samples I need.'

"Asami is being generous."

'Yes, he is, so don't waste it, Kyoya-san.'

"Who's this EXTREME person Asami?"

"No one"/'Don't ask.'

That being said Kyoya moved to his designated door. The other two looked like they wanted to ask more, but decided against it and headed into their door.

'Put on your ski masks.' Takeshi and Ryohei did so without argument. 'You too, Kyoya-san. We can't risk anyone recognizing us.' Grudgingly, Kyoya complied and then continued into the biohazards area.

KHRKHRKHR

"Each door should open into a narrow hall, there should be a stair case leading down at the end of Kyoya-san's and Nii-san and Takeshi should start seeing doors on both sides about ten meters in."

'Ma, this place is like a maze.'

"It was designed that way on purpose, it makes it easier to spot and catch intruders when they don't know where they're going." Tsuna switched his attention from the video feed from the glasses to another laptop giving video feed from the security cameras. "Alright, only four labs are occupied in the engineering department, they're marked lab 4, lab 5, lab 9, and lab 12. Since there are only three people each in labs 5, 9, and 12 and two in lab 4 and they're not working with anything volatile, you two can pick which labs you want to take." Tsuna then turned his attention to the biohazard department. "Labs 2, 3, and 7 are the only one's occupied of your end, Kyoya-san, and you have two people in labs 2 and 7 and four in lab 3. None of the materials they're using are air born, but skin to skin contact can be dangerous, so try to take them by surprise." With that done, Tsuna turned his attention to getting control of the human experiment section, knowing everything else was pretty much under control.

For some reason, the codes and wires had been changed in only that one are, but Tsuna knew he could get through with a little bit of work. The encryption was more complex, but nothing in comparison to the Vongola security.

_I'm not used as used to this type of security, so it'll probably take about ten minutes get in without leaving anything traceable._ Tsuna smirked._ If I wasn't so worried about Otosan and the Vongola finding out about me, I could get in and out in less than two minutes._

Tsuna got to work, absent mindedly listening to the soft grunts and other small noises coming from his head set, just in case any of his cohorts somehow got in trouble. He typed at a casual pace, not in too much of a hurry now that everything was going so smoothly, and gradually ate away at the security system.

'Finished.' Kyoya interrupted him about seven minutes later.

"That was fast. You didn't kill anyone, right?"

'No."

"Restraints?"

'Yes.'

'Oy, Sawada, we're done too.'

"Good, head over to human experiments, I…" _beep… beep… blzzzz…_

KHRKHRKHRKHR

'Good, head over to Human Experiments, I…' _beep… beep… blzzzz…_

"Omnivore/Tsuna/Sawada!"

All three called out over the radio as they re-entered the large circular room. If something happened to Tsuna…

'Don't worry, I'm fine.' Two audible sighs of relief escaped Ryohei and Takeshi. 'But the security cameras in Human Experiments were just destroyed. I'm locking it down until I can find out what's going on inside.'

"I thought you said that was a bad idea, Omnivore."

'I know, but with all the shit they've been doing to people, there's no telling what they've made in there. It's better safe than sorry. I'll see if I can cross some connections and locate a web cam or something used for video logs, to get a picture.'

"But we're EXTREMELY almost done."

'I know, just give me ten minutes.'

"You have five minutes before I bust down the door, Omnivore."

'Damn it Kyoya. Fine, just stay quiet.'

As the three boys waited impatiently in front of the sealed door they could here Tsuna typing away.

"Oy, Tsuna?"

'Busy now.'

"I just wanted to know, what does the E in Project E stand for?"

All of a sudden, the supposedly sealed door opened to reveal a thin, blue haired boy. When he looked up at them, they were met with a pair of miss matched eyes, one blue and the other an eerie shade of red.

'Project Estraneo… Fuck me!'

(A.N. Three guesses who was at the door. I told you he'd be in here but I didn't say how much. I just decided to be evil and leave you here for now. Now I wonder what could turn Tsuna into such a potty mouth. Those of you who remember the Estraneo story probably know what he saw, but don't review about that, give me critiques. Oh, did anyone realize who Asami is, I'll tell you right now he isn't an OC. I kind of just put him in there as a set up for an idea I have about a side story, so he probably won't have any real plot significance, but he may make a cameo because of Reborn. Feel free to say if you know who he is, I'm curious how many people got a chance to enjoy the new animix.)


	8. Rokudo Mukuro

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 8: Rokudo Mukuro

"Project Estraneo… Fuck me!"

Tsuna could hardly believe his eyes as he took in the hazy image of a blood soaked lab. The camera he had managed to hack into had a very limited range of view, but it was enough for him to see various corpses littering the floor.

"You guys need to get out of there! NOW!" That's when Tsuna noticed the figure visible from the live feed of the glasses and paled.

Although the figure looked young, probably around the same age as Tetsuya, Tsuna had no doubt he was the one to massacre the scientists. Even though Tsuna knew for a fact the bastards didn't deserve anything less for what they probably did to the boy, it didn't stop the panic from bubbling up in his chest. The boy was malnourished and probably mentally unstable, if Kyoya or the others made one miss step…

KHRKHRKHRKHR

'You guys need to get out of there! NOW!'

_No shit._ Was the first thought to enter Takeshi's mind as his gaze looked with those eerie mismatched eyes.

None of the boys were the kind to scare easily, but something about the boy in front of them seemed off. Even though he hadn't moved, in what had to be several minutes, the air of danger he gave off was almost stifling. Even Kyoya was feeling the effects of the feeling of death rolling off the boy.

"Chi sei tu?" (Mukuro's Italian, "Who are you.")

Ryohei and Takeshi jumped and Kyoya narrowed his eyes at the sudden sound, none of them expecting the boy to speak.

"I EXTREMELY do not understand."

The boy furrowed his brows in confusion at the words; he didn't appear to understand Japanese.

"Sei con la famiglia Estraneo? Risposta o morire!" (Are you with the Estraneo family? Answer or die!)

Though they could not understand the words, the tone spoke of a threat. All three immediately went on the defensive; Kyoya raising his tonfas, Takeshi raising his sword, and Ryohei raising his fists.

"Vedo che sono." (I see you are.)

Before the DC group could react, a mass of vines wrapped around their bodies and slowly began to crush them.

"Wh-what is this!" Takeshi chocked out. "Wh-where d-did the-these vines come-come from."

"Ora si muore." (Now you die.)

'**No, tu non capisci!' **(No, you don't understand) A voice shouted over the intercom.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

As soon as Italian started spilling out of the unidentified boys mouth, Tsuna was working furiously to connect his headset to the intercom system in the bunker. He considered hissing Italian into the headset for the others to repeat back to the boy, for a split second, before deciding against it because the others wouldn't be able to convey the proper message and tone. He knew the only way to save his friends would be to converse directly with the unidentified boy, and for that he needed the intercom.

'Wh-what is this!'

Tsuna looked back at the screen, but kept working even as the sight made his blood run cold. The boy hadn't moved, but for some reason, it appeared his friends were struggling against some force he couldn't see.

'Wh-where d-did the-these vines come-come from.'

_Vines?_ Tsuna didn't dare slow down in his work, but Takeshi's statement both confused and concerned him. He couldn't see any vines, but his friends could, and it looked like they were being strangled by them. _An illusion?_ The Estraneo had been experimenting with illusionists, trying to make someone on par with the missing Mist Arcobaleno. _Did they succeed?_

Tsuna finished just as he heard the boys declaration of murder.

"**No, tu non capisci!"** He shouted with all his might into his headset. (I will now be switching how I present Italian. **"This is Italian in the present scene," **and **'This is Italian through the headset or over the intercom.'**

'**Who are you?' **Tsuna sighed in faint relief as the three boys stopped struggling and were now panting for air, but it seems they're still restrained somehow.

"**I'm… we're here to help you, but they can't understand Italian. Please, let them go."**

'**Liar.'**

Tsuna barely kept himself from panicking at those words, but stayed calm. He had to, if he was going to save the others.

"**No, you're in Japan. I'm the only one who can speak Italian in our group, I swear."**

'**Then where are you?'**

"**I'm in a location several miles from where you are."**

Tsuna felt sweat fall across the side of his face as he watched the boys eyes narrow dangerously. He quickly wiped the sweat off with his sleeve tried to reason with the boy.

"**I… I'm a hacker. I helped sneak them in. We're doing this to stop the inhumane experiments of the Estraneo Famiglia. Please, you have to believe me."**

'What's going on, Omnivore?' Kyoya spat out before his face became constrained with pain and started turning red.

"Let me talk to him, Kyoya-san. **He just wants to know what's going on. They can't speak Italian, remember."**

Once again Kyoya looked as if he'd been released from something and started breathing again.

'**What mafia famiglia do you work for?'**

"**None."**

'**Don't lie to me!'**

"**I'm not, I promise. We function independently to protect Japan from mafia conflicts, but I am related to a Mafioso, I won't deny it."**

The boy looked confused for a moment. **'If you're related, then why…'**

"**Because I don't agree with how things are. I want to change the mafia world so innocent people don't get hurt."**

The boy snorted. **'Kufufu. Such a fanciful dream.'**

"**Maybe so."**

KHRKHRKHRKHR

Mukuro was both intrigued and wary of the owner of the voice coming from the intercom. He sounded interesting.

"**I want you to come here."**

'**That's fine, but it'll take me at least thirty minutes to reach your location.'**

"**You have ten minutes." **Mukuro would not give him the opportunity to get re-enforcements if he was lying.

'**Please. I'm at least fifteen miles from where you are and it'll take me a few minutes to navigate the tunnels. I'll stay in contact with you the entire way over, but I need at least thirty minutes.'**

Mukuro scowled slightly. **"Fine you have thirty minutes, your time starts now. You better not be late."**

'**I won't.'**

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna grabbed the only laptop in the hotel room that wasn't connected to all of the wires and ran out the door. He would need it if he was going to be any help on location.

"**Can I ask what your name is?"**

It was harder to see the boy using the vision connection on the left lens of his pair of special glasses, but he carefully observed the boys face. As long as it stayed semi neutral, Kyoya and the others should be okay.

'**Tell me yours first.'**

Tsuna held in a sigh of relief. Small talk was good.

"**Sawada Tsunayoshi."**

'**Sawada… That doesn't sound Italian.'**

"**It's not."**

KHRKHRKHR

It took exactly twenty-seven minutes and thirty-one seconds for Tsuna to get to the open room, where he came face to face with Mukuro.

"**Are you Sawada Tsunayoshi?" **Mukuro watched him carefully.

"**Yes." **Tsuna returned the cautious look before turning his gaze to his friends, only to be startled.

He hadn't been able to see the vines on his computer monitor or through the glasses, but he could see them now. Carefully restraining all three boys, the vines tied their arms behind their backs, bound their feet, and gagged them. All three were effectively hog tied.

Tsuna returned his gaze to the boy in front of him. **"Can you tell me your name now?" **He wanted to demand the immediate release of his friends, but new better than to do so. He was playing by the illusionists rules.

"**I am Rokudo Mukuro and if you don't answer all of my questions honestly, I will kill you and your little friends. Understand." **He said it with such a calm expression, almost as if he was casually discussing the weather and not murder.

"**I understand."** Tsuna kept sending side long glances at his bound companions. **"Could you perhaps make them more comfortable?"**

"**What? Not going to demand their immediate release."**

"**I can't. We're playing by your rules."**

"**Kufufu. Smart boy."**

Tsuna tensed and the others all tried to yell through their gags and struggle against their bonds as Mukuro drew closer to the smaller and younger boy. As he got closer, Tsuna noticed that, although Mukuro was quite skinny and obviously malnourished, he was quite a bit taller than Tsuna.

"**Now how could such a cute group of children break into one of the most secure buildings in the world?" **Mukuro gripped Tsuna's chin and made him meet his mismatched eyes. It was then Tsuna noticed the red one showing the kanji for one.

"**I-we've been working on this for months. If you don't believe me you can check the rest of the bunker. You're the only thing preventing me from having complete control of the bunker."**

Mukuro stared long and hard into Tsuna's eyes, looking for any traces of deception. When he didn't find any he released his grip and backed up a few paces.

"**Explain the situation to your friends. I don't want them attacking me for this little… misunderstanding."**

The relief coming off Tsuna was palpable.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

"So he just EXTREMELY misunderstood and thought we were the EXTREME bad guys?"

"Pretty much, Nii-san.

"Then why hasn't that damn herbivore released us yet?"

Tsuna sighed at Kyoya's temper. Even if he didn't like seeing his friends in such a state, he had to admit Mukuro was right to leave them bound until Tsuna could explain. Kyoya was liable to attack the new boy.

"He thought it would be safer for everyone if I explained what was going on before he released you."

"Ha ha. I get it. Ma ma, can you tell him to let us down now, my neck is killing me."

"Yeah. **Mukuro?"**

Tsuna looked over his shoulder to see the duel eyed boy eyeing the four of them carefully before nodding his head and making the vines disappear. As soon as they were gone, Tsuna quickly grabbed Kyoya's shoulders to keep him from doing anything rash.

"Kyoya-san, he didn't know." Tsuna used the one secret weapon he knew even the great Hibari Kyoya could not fight off, his puppy dog eyes.

"Hn."

With that Tsuna released Kyoya and walked over to Mukuro and smiled at the boy.

"**Thank you for not hurting them."**

"**I'm only going along with this because I require your assistance."**

Tsuna looked confused. **"What do you need?"**

"**I'm not the only prisoner here."**

(A.N. I didn't want Mukuro to have too many problems listening to Tsuna in this chapter, like knowing he's a Vongola successor candidate, so that he'll have less trouble accepting the role as the Mist Guardian later. There will be drama when he finds out of course, but I wanted to make them friends first. Next time we'll meet Ken and Chikusa and Tsuna tries to stop Mukuro from going on a killing spree. Will he succeed? Find out next time. Ja ne.)


	9. Survivors

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 9: Survivors

Tsuna stared at Mukuro, dumbfounded, before…

"Tsk… hahahahaha."

Before Mukuro could get mad or start assuming Tsuna was making fun of him, Tsuna did his best to stifle his laughter.

"**I'm sorry. It's just that was one of the main reasons we risked going after the Estraneo."**

Somewhat pacified, Mukuro decided it wasn't worth it to get angry at a potentially useful ally. It wasn't every day you found a group of pre-teens who could take down an extremely technologically advanced bunker with minimum effort.

Mukuro then snapped his head in the direction of the door leading to the scientists' quarters.

"**What do you plan to do with **_**them?**_**"**

Tsuna winced. **"In order to do this, we had to make a deal with the head Yakuza in Japan."** Seeing Mukuro's eyes narrow, Tsuna continued quickly. **"They'll be sentence under mafia law."**

"**So the Vendici will be stepping in."** Mukuro smirked; one did not want to cross the Vendici.

Tsuna just nodded, hoping this meant Mukuro wouldn't be going on another killing spree.

He began to head toward prison section, but then turned to look at his three friends. "I want you guys to stay here." They were less than enthusiastic to comply.

"EXTREMELY no."

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone with him Tsuna."

"No."

Sigh. "Look, some of these guys may panic if they see a large group, and depending on what the scientists did to them that could be a bad this, a very bad thing."

"What if they EXTREMELY panic and your EXTREMELY alone?" Takeshi nodded at this and Kyoya just "hn'd."

"I won't be alone, Mukuro will be there." Seeing their confused looks, he elaborated. "Him." He pointed toward Mukuro, who just lifted an eyebrow.

"I don't trust that herbivore."

"I know, but he needs me, so he won't let anything happen."

With that they reluctantly agreed to stay put and make sure they didn't have any unwelcome visitors.

KHRKHRKHR

The stair case directly behind the door lead the odd pair down three flights into what looked like a typical dungeon setting. Like the lab corridors, the prison consisted of a narrow hall with doors lining both sides, the key difference being the type of doors.

Tsuna couldn't help but feel a bit sick at the sight of the long rows of steel door bolted shut with thick locks. The only openings, in the otherwise solid block of metal, were a small 4" by 4" barred observation window and a cat flap at the bottom.

Mukuro walked past the cells he knew were empty, not at all disturbed by the familiar sight of what had been his "home" for the last three years, and instead focused on the only three cells with living occupants.

"**There are only four of us left."**

Tsuna looked up, startled by the sudden noise in what had been a tensely silent trek through the prison, before looking back down. He had to swallow back some of the bile that threatened to come up. He had known it was likely that many of the initial fifteen test subjects, brought to Japan four-years-ago, wouldn't make it and that only made him feel guiltier about delaying this mission.

"**I-I've known about this place for four years."**

Mukuro froze and turned to stare at the nervous boy with his mismatched eyes (Tsuna noted the kanji for one had changed to six). His expression was unreadable, but Tsuna didn't dare look away as he tried to convey his feelings with his eyes. He needed Mukuro to understand there was nothing he could have done before then.

"**If you were gifted enough to find this place, surely you could have informed a mafia famiglia, even if you don't have any ties to one." **The words were hissed out between clenched teeth.

"**Maybe, but then all of the test subjects would have been executed by the Vendici."**

Mukuro seemed to consider that a moment before conceding the point. The Vendici were meant to protect mafia law and if something, even a child, was deemed too much of a threat to let live, the Vendici eliminate it. Try as he might, Mukuro couldn't fault Tsuna for not acting sooner, this wasn't the kind of thing you wanted to mess up.

"**What of the Yakuza?"**

"**He gave me 24 hours to do what I have to before he moves in. I was hoping to use this time to get all living prisoners to safety and examine the technology." **Mukuro indicated a door for Tsuna to open, so he got out a simple lock pick. **"As far as the Vendici will know, all of the living subjects escaped during an experiment, killing multiple scientists in the process."**

Mukuro smirked. **"Kufufu. Glad I could help with the cover story."**

"**Indeed."**

Tsuna opened the cell and was faced with the sight of a small form with dark hair, shaking huddled in a corner. He looked toward Mukuro, feeling it would be safer for the older boy to approach the dark haired one.

"**Chikusa."** The small form jerked up at the sound of the name, revealing glasses covered dark blue eyes and a bandaged forehead.

"**Mukuro-sama?" **While the boy was visibly relieved to see Mukuro, he was also confused.

"**We're leaving." **His eyes widened as he hurried to stand and run toward the door, but hesitated when he noticed Tsuna. **"He's helping us."**

The boy didn't seem to sure, but carefully stepped out of the cell. Tsuna offered him a small awkward smile, but the boy just hid behind Mukuro, causing Tsuna to let out a small sigh.

"**Are you hurt at all, Chikusa-san?"** The boy didn't even look at Tsuna, just shook his head quietly. **"Alright then."**

Tsuna couldn't help but feel even more awkward as they moved on to the next cell. Neither Mukuro nor Chikusa said anything as he proceeded to pick the lock and Tsuna quietly wondered what kind of person was behind the door.

He didn't have to wonder long because as soon as he got the door open, a larger body slammed into him and knocked him to the ground. Tsuna looked up to see blonde hair, a large scar running over his nose, a small flower like birth mark on his cheek, and golden eyes with a feral look in them. It looked as if the boy was prepared to _bite_ him but was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder.

"**That's enough, Ken."**

Blink. **"Mukuro-san?" **He, like Chikusa, seemed confused, but switched his attention back to Tsuna and started growling when he felt Tsuna shift beneath him.

"**He's harmless, let him up."**

"**But Mukuro-san-"**

"**Now, Ken." **Mukuro's voice left no room for argument as Ken slowly got off Tsuna, who Mukuro helped to his feet. **"Are you alright, Tsunayoshi-kun?"**

"**Yeah, but what's this about me being harmless?" -.-**

Smirk** "Kufufu. Aren't you?"**

"**I'm far from helpless. Kyoya saw to that." **

Mukuro quirked an eyebrow at that. **"We'll have to test that later, but for now we have one more friend to rescue."**

"**Right."**

The casual conversation left Ken and Chikusa gaping. Apparently they weren't used to seeing Mukuro act so freely around a stranger. They chose not to say anything (more Chikusa chose not to say anything and he put a hand over Ken's mouth to keep him from saying anything) and followed the other two to the last occupied cell.

As with Ken and Chikusa cells, Tsuna proceeded to pick the lock, but he was not prepared for what was on the other side.

"WTF!"

KHRKHRKHR

22 hours later

"…get the rest."

'…'

"Yes, I know I'm five minutes late, but it couldn't be avoided."

'…'

"Look, I'm sorry, but I had one lab full of corpses, another filled with deadly chemicals, _another_ filled with explosives, and several irate-"

'…'

"I'm not making excuses! Damn it, Asami-san!"

Tsuna was pacing around his hotel room in the dead of night, currently locked in an argument with the most dangerous Yakuza in Japan. He was exhausted, having not slept in 39 hours, and in no mood for political battles. What was supposed to be a relaxing, post-mission vacation was quickly becoming a nightmare, for him at least.

Having anticipated that they would have to provide shelter for multiple traumatized Estraneo children, Tsuna rented out four suites at Imperial Tokyo Hotel. Each of the suits had two bedrooms with queen beds; a private bathroom for each _room_ in each suite with a giant Jacuzzi tub; and a sitting area decked out with the biggest T.V.'s any of the boys had ever seen. All of that combined with five star room service and restaurants, two enormous pools, a fully equipped spa, and a gym; and it was the epitome of luxury.

So of course Tsuna was annoyed when he was the only one unable enjoy it.

"Look, it was only five minutes, leave it alone. Now I'm on vaca-"

'…'

Now Tsuna was angry, instead of just irritated. "We agreed all of the living test subjects would fall under my protection." There was no way Tsuna was going to let Asami go back on that part of the deal.

'…'

"I don't care if he's not human, he's still living. Therefore, he falls under my jurisdiction."

'…'

"Yes, I'm willing to fight you for it, don't think just because I agreed to the truce two year ago I won't."

'…'

"Screw testing my resolve, you Asshole!"

_Click._

At this point, Tsuna was too tired to worry about the consequences that would follow hanging up on Asami Ryuuchi. He resolved to turn off his phone and call the bastard back tomorrow.

_I hate that guy!_

(A.N. There have been some complaints about Tsuna being a little stiff, but that's the point. Tsuna isn't a normal kid; he isn't supposed to act like one. I designed the character to be socially awkward and overly intelligent, almost like an autistic child. It isn't uncommon for people to think of geniuses' and famous scientists, like Einstein and Darwin, as being a little off. Do to his obsessive compulsive methods of recording data and collecting insects, Darwin has been believed to be a functioning autistic. While Tsuna isn't so much detached, as he is perfectly capable of feeling, he's slightly out of touch and has a hard time connecting with people on a deep level, leaving his character a bit stiff and rude. When making him this way, I used characters like Ritsuka from Loveless and Miharu Rokujo from Nabari, as models. They are characters who are stiff and uncomfortable around most people, but open up to and show a full range of emotion around those they truly care about. So before anyone starts thinking I can't design a character, think about the personalities tacked on to real people who are considered geniuses', I guarantee you'll find a few that were "stiff" or awkward. And for the last time, I already admitted to getting inspiration from "The Mafia Wants You." I really wish people would stop reviewing about how eerily similar it is, when it's completely different.)


	10. Human or not, does it matter

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 10: Human or not, does it matter?

All of the windows in the room had been carefully blocked by thick curtains to prevent any sunlight from entering. In the center of the blackened room is a queen bed covered in white silk sheets and a warm feather comforter. It was the perfect place to pass out after going almost two straight days without any sleep.

Tsuna couldn't help but curse his own habits.

He was accustomed to waking up at 5:00 a.m. every morning and even the Night Quill induced nap he'd taken the morning before executing Project E. couldn't change that. So after just four and a half hours of sleep, Tsuna found himself lying in a sort of trance like state. At least until the fluffy black face and golden eyes of the fourth research subject fell into his field of vision.

Flashback

"WTF."

Tsuna knew that just about anything could be behind the cell door, but this was… kind of scary.

"**Kufufu… Hahahaha."** Mukuro's laughter was soon accompanied by Ken's and a small snicker from Chikusa.

The sound of Mukuro's laughter broke Tsuna out of his shock. He shook his head slightly and glared at Mukuro.

"**I wasn't expecting a big ass cat, shut u-"**Once again Tsuna found himself on the ground with a strong, heavy (about 130-150 lbs at this age) body on top of him.

It was suddenly very quiet.

_I don't think he's from the original fifteen._

Tsuna was very still as the black muzzle and whiskers brushed against his face as the young Jaguar sniffed him. The knowledge that this was probably only six months old did little to comfort Tsuna, as Jaguars, being the third largest cats in the world, were _very_ large as cubs.

Tsuna half expected Mukuro to step in, as he had with Ken, but he quickly noticed Mukuro wasn't moving.

"**Muku-"**

"**Shhh… I've never seen him when he wasn't sedated."**

_Fuck._ Why hadn't he said that _before_ Tsuna unlocked the cell! Tsuna was still before, but now he was completely frozen, not even daring to breathe. _Wait! Couldn't Mukuro-_

*_Purrr. Lick._*

It took Tsuna a few seconds to realize one of the most dangerous predators in the world wasn't killing him, but _snuggling_ with him.

"**He-hey there. What-what's your name?"** Tsuna nervously lifted a hand to scratch behind the cubs' ear gently, before adding a little more pressure when the large cat purred and leaned into his hand.

"**Don't know, they only brought him here a couple of days ago."**

Mukuro reached over and tried to touch the black cat, key word being tried. As soon as Mukuro got close, the Jaguar cub began to growl and hiss at him. Mukuro decided it would be better to withdraw his hand, lest he draw back a nub.

"**He-hey now. It's ok."**Tsuna started petting the sleek black fur.

*_Purrr_*

End Flashback

Seeing the face of an animal big enough to rip you to shreds does a good job of waking someone up, even if it seems to love you.

Tsuna sighed and rubbed the cats behind his ear and enjoyed the soft purr he got in response. It didn't take him long to figure out that he was the only person the predator seemed to like, when he proceeded to hiss at anyone who came within three feet of him.

Why the cat like him so much, he didn't know and didn't care, it kept everyone else out of his room, including Kyoya who had similarly holed himself up in the other room of the same suite.

See the cat put a small, tired smile on his face. Even if the animal had scared him half to death initially, Tsuna couldn't help but feel comfortable around the beast, especially after he finally found the files on the living experiments, something the Estraneo famiglia was very careful not to put on a computer.

"I need to name you, don't I?"

*_Purrr_* The cat seemed to agree.

"Hmm, you're going to be a real killer when you're full grown, so maybe Kira?" As if the cub could understand, he softly shook his (already) large head. "No? I guess it sounds a little girly. How about Akira?" *_Purrr_* "Akira it is."

The large animal would only get bigger and more dangerous, but Tsuna wasn't worried, even if he'd openly called other people idiots for trying to keep big cats as pets in the past. No, Tsuna had decided to keep the young male within an hour after meeting him. Tsuna just couldn't stomach the thought of putting him in a zoo or animal sanctuary knowing what Estraneo had done to him.

The cat lay back down and proceeded to curl up and go back to sleep on the soft bed. Tsuna looked envious for a few minutes before resigning himself to get up. He took a moment to glare at the clock on the bed side table, red numbers proudly displaying the time, 5:23 a.m. A long hot shower did wonders to relieve some of the stress that had built up in his small body.

As Tsuna got dressed and exited his room he contemplated getting a massage from the spa, when there was a knock at the door. A quick glance at Kyoya's door informed him the volatile boy wasn't in his room or the suite, so Tsuna deemed it safe to open the door without risk of making Kyoya irate. So he trotted over and checked the peak hole.

He was not amused, but grudgingly opened the door anyway.

"Why are you here, Asami-san?"

Standing in his door way was none other than the king of Japanese night life, Asami Ryuuichi, and his two body guards. Tsuna was well acquainted with all three, having broken the blonde body guards' nose and the glasses wearing ones arm two years prior.

"Not very courteous to your benefactor, are you brat." The tall bastard had the audacity to smirk at him.

Asami Ryuuichi was a well known name in both the business world and the underworld. On the surface, he was just a regular business man and club owner with too much time and money on his hands, but underneath it he controlled a vast drug and smuggling network. At just 33-years-old, he was one of the youngest Mafioso to gain so much influence over an entire country and keep most other big players out.

He was tall, muscular, and handsome; the kind of man women through themselves at. His neatly cut black hair, piercing golden eyes, and sculpt face could be seen many dreams, but featured in even more nightmares.

"Benefactor? Need I remind you, you need me more than I need you!"

The first time Tsuna met Asami was about two-years-ago, when he, Kyoya, and Tetsuya started getting more aggressive about kicking all the local gangs and yakuza's out of Namimori. Asami had a small operation in Namimori and had not been pleased when he got wind that a group of children were interfering with his business and promptly sent some of his men to punish the upstarts, or at least tried to.

"Really now, are you sure about that Yoshie?" Asami's smirk didn't go anywhere, instead, he proceeded to blow smoke from his cigarette into Tsuna's face.

After a few months of tense confrontations and Asami being completely incapable of getting rid of the budding Disciplinary Committee, he settled on striking a deal with them. Normally Tsuna and Kyoya wouldn't have bothered, but Asami somehow got a hold of proof that Tsuna was Yoshie, so they had no choice but form a truce.

"What do you want?"

Tsuna knew it would be pointless to respond to the barb, so he settled on trying to get an answer to his original question. Until he could locate what Asami had on him (bastard was smart enough to not store any information he had on Tsuna on a computer), Tsuna had to be semi civil with the man (who he held a grudging respect for, but would never admit it).

"I'm still curious about your new pet."

"You shouldn't be. He's living, so he falls under my protection." This was quickly turning into the phone conversation from the night before. "We never specified whether or not the subject had to be human."

"No, we didn't, but the fact he killed is a cause for concern."

Tsuna's eyes widened a little bit. Asami believed Akira was responsible for the deaths of the scientists in the Human Experiments division, meaning the other scientists (who were the only ones that could have told Asami about the Jaguar) didn't know much about the experiments going on in that division. Tsuna decided this could work in his favor.

"Artificially enhancing a Jaguars strength can do if you don't watch sedative levels." He felt bad about letting Asami assume Akira killed the scientists, but it was safer than letting him know the truth. "He's actually quite tame, so you don't have to worry about anything."

"Then show him to me."

A short staring match ensued until Tsuna was forced to concede. The sooner he got Asami out of the suite the better. Kyoya would take too kindly to the man being there and Tsuna didn't even want to think of how Mukuro, Ken, or Chikusa may react. A quick glance over Asami's shoulder went unnoticed as he gestured for them to come in.

Tsuna lead his three (unwanted) guests over to his room and motioned for them to stay in the door way before he turned on the lights. Akira lifted his head from the bed to see what was going on and growled lightly at Asami and his body guards. All three tensed, but Tsuna just walked over and got on the bed and started scratching Akira behind the ear. They just stared at him as if he were crazy, at least until Akira started to _purr_.

"See, tame." Seeing Asami raise an eyebrow, Tsuna sighed. "I'm the only one he seems to like, its better if I take care of him."

"You're going to… keep a Panther as a pet?"

"Jaguar."

"What?"

Tsuna looked the Yakuza in the eye, his amusement clearly visible.

"He's a black Jaguar; they're native to North America. Panther is a term for-"

"I know that, you damn brat." Asami rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if nursing a head ache, before sighing. "Where's his file?"

"I destroyed it." Tsuna's was carefully blank.

Once again, a starring match ensued. This time, Tsuna was victorious when Asami just nodded, not finding any trace of a lie in Tsuna's eyes. He was confident in his ability to read anyone, including this over confident brat, so he didn't even consider the possibility of the boy being able to fool him.

"What did it say?"

"Nothing much. He was pretty new, so they only got the chance to work on enhancing his strength." Tsuna lied.

"Really?"

"Really."

"And the others?"

"All human."

Yet another starring contest.

KHRKHRKHR

Mukuro was quietly spying on the group, hidden by his illusions.

He had been curious when he noticed the men on their floor and had decided to follow them. Their mafia like appearance served to put him on edge, so he had to be sure they weren't a threat. He was only half surprised when they made a b-line for Tsuna's door.

The conversation quickly informed him that this was the Mafioso Tsuna had told him about, but that didn't alleviate the anxiety he felt. He had a feeling this encounter would reveal something important.

KHRKHRKHR

Asami sighed; it was hard to get one over the brat. When he stumbled over the smallest bit of a computer trace that lead him to the hacker Yoshie two-year-ago, he couldn't believe his luck. As far as Asami knew; it was the one and only slip up Yoshie ever made, so of course he was quick to print and store the trace data in a hidden vault. It was the only advantage he had in these meetings, but he knew better than to over use it.

Kid or not, (and what a surprise that had been) Yoshie could destroy him with a cell phone, so it was best to keep to a mutually beneficial agreement for now.

"Fine, I am a man of my word." Yoshie wasn't the type to look or act smug, but Asami swore he saw a bit of a smirk on the brats face. "But that's not the only reason I came here today."

"What is it?"

"Federico's bones were found, right here in Japan, a couple of hours ago."

"Shit."

Asami felt a bit of satisfaction at being one of the only people who could make the stone faced boy show enough emotion to swear, but this was serious. Ever since finding out the true identity of Yoshie, Asami had made sure to learn everything about the boy; where he lived, where he went to school, who his friends were, and who his family was. He paid special interest to the boys' family, particularly his ancestry.

"With what you told me about Xanxus, that makes you-"

Tsuna quickly held up his hand. It was better if Asami didn't say anything about _that_ right now, not with Mukuro spying on them.

"How long do you think it'll be before they send someone?"

"A couple years, you're still pretty young." _Too young_.

Asami couldn't help but curse in his head. He was starting to become fond of the brat.

(A.N. Okay, quick Black Panther lesson. Black Panther is a generic name given to members of the Panthera genus (not to be confused with other, smaller members of the Pantherinae subfamily, like clouded leopard or the snow leopard) who possess a semi rare mutation that turns their fur black. There are only four members of the Panthera genus (marked by their distinct size and ability to roar); Lions, Tigers, Jaguars, and Leopards (in order of largest to smallest of the genus); and they are the largest members of the cat family. Of these four, only the spotted members, Jaguars and Leopards, have a chance to develop a black coat (spots can still be visible if you look closely, but most people don't) and these large black cats are predominantly found in either Southern India or Southern North America (occasionally a black leopard can be found in Africa, but they're more rare). The cats found in India are the smaller black Leopards and are more aggressive do to a more volatile mutation associated with the black coat, but not too much more so than your typical big cat. The cats found in North America are Jaguars and are extremely rare do to the common spotted Jaguars place on the endangered species list, so of course the more rare variety of Jaguar is incredibly elusive. I'm telling you this because some people have confused both species with being one in the same and call them panthers, not realizing they are in fact Leopards and Jaguars. Now Akira likes Tsuna because of his sky attribute, which holds the harmony factor, and feels comforted by his presence. Akira will be noticeable more friendly around other sky element holders (Nono, Dino, Aria, Yuni, and Xanxus, but not Iemitsu) and be kind of tolerant with some rain element holders (Takeshi, Colonello, and Squalo). Akira's presence in the Estraneo bunker has not been explained and will not be explained for some time, leaving Tsuna as the only one with knowledge of the files on Akira, Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa. Now, just to clarify, Jaguars are wild animals, not pets! Akira qualifies as Tsuna's pet and companion in this story only because he is fictional. I'm not trying to sound condescending, but there are people that treat big cats as pets and buy them as cubs (lions, tigers, mountain lions, bob cats, and yes jaguars), only to be surprised when said cats kill them a few years later, it's happened before! Jaguars alone can get up to about 350lbs when full grown and are about ten times stronger than your biggest muscle man. I myself love big cats and am especially fond of White Tigers and Black Jaguars, but would I keep one as a pet? Hell no! If you love big cats and want to help out this endangered species, please donate to a conservation group, or even a zoo, so that we can keep these beautiful animals alive.)


	11. Of hating and using the mafia

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 11: Of hating and using the mafia

Mukuro could only understand a word here or there, but the name Asami was one Tsuna used for the Yakuza he worked with, so that cleared up the man's identity. It frustrated him that he couldn't understand what they were talking about, it seemed serious and Mukuro wanted to know more about his new ally. Words like "human" and "Jaguar," made him nervous because it was obvious that at least part of the conversation had to do with him and the other escapees, but none of their names were mentioned. Mukuro decided he would commit this conversation to memory, so that when he had a better grasp on the language he could decipher what was said.

With that in mind, he listened closely to each word and name, until a familiar one reared its head. Mukuro had been a prisoner for years, but as a child born of the mafia, he knew of some of the more famous mafia names.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

"Reborn's been working with the Cavallone heir for a couple of months now, so they'll either send someone else or wait." Asami pulled another cigarette out of his pocket, he needed it. "Nono isn't the kind to cut corners; he'll want Reborn to teach you."

"Dino Cavallone… all of my data tells me he's a hopeless klutz."

"And all of the data on _you_ will say you're not much better."

*Glare*

*Smirk*

"Ass."

"Brat."

"Shouldn't you be out extorting money from old ladies or killing someone?"

Asami quirked an eyebrow at that, Tsuna was more agitated than usual. Maybe he really was just that tired, but it was never that simple with this brat.

"If you're going to be pissy, maybe I really should-"

"I don't need a damn prostitute!"

The first time Kyoya killed someone, Asami sent him a prostitute. It had been hilarious at the time, but when a stripper showed up at his house for his twelfth birthday, amusement quickly turned to ire.

"Old enough to kill, old enough to drink, old enough to fuck."

"You were dropped on your head as a child, weren't you?"

"As if you're one to talk."

"Is there anything else, or are you still here because you like pissing me off so much?"

"Heh, how many people can say they've managed to piss off the famous Yoshie?" Seeing the contemplative look Tsuna sent his new pet, Asami decide it was better to finish up. "You won't be able to say no, as the only heir left. You know the kind of chaos that would ensue if there isn't anyone to take over when Nono dies."

Tsuna winced. As much as he hated to admit it, Asami was right. Vongola was the most powerful mafia famiglia in the world and it needed to stay that way, but Tsuna also knew that a Japanese kid that was related to Primo wouldn't be well received. Those who didn't know the truth about Xanxus were still waiting for him to return and were liable to try and get rid of the _competition_. Even if he accepted he resigned himself to becoming Decimo, it wouldn't end the conflict.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo." In that brief moment, Tsuna forgot about their hidden guest.

"**You liar!"**

Before Tsuna or Asami realized what was happening, everyone in the room, but Tsuna, were restrained with thick green vines and Mukuro was pinning Tsuna to the bed.

"**Mukuro! Wai-"**

"**Shut up! Just shut up! You lied to me. You said you weren't directly connected to the mafia."**

Tsuna, knowing Mukuro's illusions could be deadly, held very still. If he provoked Mukuro now, he was likely to do something that would land him back on the Vendici's radar. A quick glance over the furious boys shoulders told him Asami wasn't going to try and interrupt.

"**Mukuro, I didn't lie."**Tsuna kept his voice low and unthreatening.**"I told you I was related, remember?"**

"**Vongola Decimo! That's not related, you're the leader."**

"**Not yet, I'm just the only available heir."**

"**You think that's any better?"**

"**No, but I wasn't born to the Mafia. I'm related to Primo, not Nono."**

Tsuna knew he was starting to get to the other boy when the hands griping his shoulders started to shake. It wasn't uncommon knowledge that Vongola Primo had retired in Japan almost 400-years-ago, his descendents hidden from the mafia world.

"**But how…"**

"**My father joined the mafia, but he kept me out of it."**

"**Nono has sons! Why would you call yourself Decimo?"**

The grip tightened.

"**Nono's sons are dead."**

**Mukuro seemed genuinely surprised by that, but kept a firm hold for a few minutes longer before his grip loosened slightly and he leaned down to rest his head on Tsuna's chest.**

"**I hate the mafia."**

"**I know, but I promised you I'd make a difference."**

"**Kufufu. As if the old bureaucrats would let a Japanese brat rule them."**

"**I won't give them a choice."**

Mukuro stared into Tsuna's eyes, trying to determine the boys resolve. He was surprised to find the normally honey brown eyes had turned a brilliant orange color and a small flame flickered on his forehead. He knew what it was, the Vongola dying will flame, the mark of a true Vongola.

"**So you really are a Vongola."**Tsuna only quietly returned Mukuro's gaze. **"Kufufu... Kuhahahaha."**

As Mukuro descended into what Tsuna considered hysterical laughter, he released Tsuna and everyone but Akira was released from the vines. A quick glance at the young cat confirmed this to be a smart move on Mukuro's part. Akira was growling and hissing for all he was worth, ready to tear apart the duel eyed boy.

"**Mukuro… are you alright?"**

"**Vongola Decimo. You just found your Mist Guardian."**With that, Mukuro walked out of the room, not even sparing the tense body guards a glance.

"Tsunayoshi." Tsuna looked at Asami, he never used his name. "That boy is dangerous."

"I know, but he deserves a chance."

This wasn't one of their petty glaring matches, this was serious and Tsuna couldn't afford to back down.

"The mafia is the mafia. You must know you can't keep your promise."

"I'm not trying to get rid of the mafia, Asami-san." The vines holding Akira finally disappeared and Tsuna did his best to console the distressed feline. "I just want to make it so children don't have to worry about people trying to kill them simply because they're related to the wrong person. I want to make it so children don't turn into lab rats because a mafia famiglia is desperate to stay alive. I want to make it so children don't have to worry about some sick pervert buying them because their parents couldn't pay their debts. I want to make it so people like Mukuro and me don't exist."

Asami listened to the rant in silence. It wasn't hard to figure out the boy was bitter about the assassination and kidnapping attempts he'd been subjected to over the years, but he'd never actually voiced it. The Vendici didn't punish people for crimes against children unless it possessed an imminent threat to the mafia world; they left what they considered minor offenses to be dealt with through the mafia law of retaliation. It was a common fact that children were often dealt the short stick in the mafia world, especially when it came to human trafficking. It wasn't uncommon for a branch relative of a mafia head, like Tsuna, to suffer from the ill effects of family rivalry and greed.

"One of the reasons I agreed to work with you is because your hands are free of the human trafficking business and you don't hurt kids." It was true. Even when he was trying to get rid of the budding Disciplinary Committee, he never had any intentions of harming the children, only scaring them. "And you've been working to get rid of human trafficking in Japan, so you can understand what I want to do, even if you think it's impossible."

"That kid… your little pet isn't the one who killed those scientists is he."

"…"

"I see." Guardian indeed. "He's your responsibility. If the Vendici catch on, there won't be much I can do for you."

"I know. Thank you, Asami-san, for everything."

"This isn't goodbye you damn brat, stop acting like I just handed you a death sentence." Asami would have loved to smack Tsuna upside the head, but the watchful eyes of the Jaguar cautioned him from getting to close. He settled on tossing him a small, gift rapped package, instead. "Happy belated birthday, Brat."

Tsuna just sat there, staring at the small package in his hand, for several minutes after the yakuza left. A small nudge at his side finally encouraged him to open the gift.

"Bastard."

Inside the box was a pair of black leather gloves, with thin metal fingers, and decorated with a white X on backhand side of both (sorry, but mittens suck). There was a note underneath.

_Brat,_

_I know your flames tend to burn your hands; I heard Primo used gloves like these, so use them as a conduit._

_Asami_

_P.S. I'm only giving you these because you need your hands to work and it'd be a pain in the ass to find someone else with your unique set of skills._

Tsuna's dying will flames gave off significant heat and when he used them for long periods of time his hands end up burnt. The only people he'd ever heard of being able to use the flames with their bare hands are Secondo and Xanxus, everyone else needed some kind of weapon.

"I guess it is fitting." Tsuna slipped the gloves on. "The stronger your resolve, the stronger your flames."

The gloves ignited with a brilliant orange glow that matched the flame on his forehead and his glowing eyes. He always felt calmer when his flames were lit.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

_Name: Sawada, Tsunayoshi_

_Age: 12_

_Blood type: A_

_Father: Iemitsu Sawada, Vongola External Adviser_

_Mother: Nana Sawada, civilian_

_Friends: Takeshi Yamamoto, Kyoko Sasagawa, Ryohei Sasagawa, Kyoya Hibari, Tetsuya Kusakabe_

_Ancestral relation to Vongola: Giotto, Vongola Primo_

_Status: Vongola Heir_

_Athletic Ability: Average with no martial arts training_

_Intellect: C average_

_Special skills: Cooking_

_Notable Personality Traits: Shy and a bit of a loner_

_Thoughts on how to train: Tsunayoshi is a shy boy that doesn't respond well to aggressive behavior. It is suggested that his tutor take a more gentle approach to bring him out of his shell, rather than using physical force. Tsunayoshi is more likely to shun the Vongola and disregard the tutors' teachings if he feels threatened. Furthermore-_

"Hey, Reborn?"

Twin black eyes could be seen from beneath a black fedora as he looked up from the report. The intelligence displayed on the face of a child that could only be described as an infant would surprise those who did not know who this baby was.

"I didn't say you could stop, stupid student." Reborn said from his perch on the blonde head.

"I know, but we've been at it for hours." The blondes handsome face twisted into a pout as his light brown eyes glanced up tiredly. "Can't I take a break yet?"

"No. Now get back to work, Dino."

"Evil Spartan tu- OW." Dino was cut off from completing his complaint as Reborn kicked him in the back of the head.

"I said get back to work, stupid student."

Dino could only groan as he got back to jogging, or at least tried to, with metal prison balls chained to his legs.

(A.N. Ok, now I'm set. Mukuro knows about Tsuna, but has decided to stick around because he thinks he can use Tsuna to his advantage. Reborn is looking into Tsuna's file and Tsuna has his gloves, so people can stop worry about me excluding HDW Tsuna, I mean, I love HDW Tsuna. Some people are curious about future Asami appearances and the truth is I just don't know. I love Viewfinder and I picked Asami because he's well established and is the kind of guy I can see hiding the existence of the DC if it profited him, and having access to the greatest hacker in the world is definitely profitable. The thing about human trafficking and not hurting kids is from Asami being an ass, but not a sicko. He doesn't strike me as the type to be involved in the more detestable criminal enterprises, even if he extorts, murders, smuggles, and deals drugs. Well, tell me what you think, ja ne.)


	12. Enter Hitman Tutor

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 12: Enter Hitman Tutor

"I want you to be my Guardians."

It was the last day of their stay at the hotel and Tsuna had gathered his three friends in his room. He hadn't intended to get Takeshi and Ryohei involved, but…

"Tsuna…"

Tsuna couldn't afford any secrets, not anymore. With Reborn's impending arrival, he was determined to have all six Guardians before the sadistic Arcobaleno could interfere, and he had three perfectly good candidates in front of him.

"You don't have to say yes. This is just a request."

KHRKHRKHRKHRKHR

*Two years later*

"Tsu-kun! I got a few more bentos and thermoses for you to use." Nana entered the kitchen, arms filled with said items. "Those boys in Kokuyoland certainly have healthy appetites."

"Thanks mom. I was worried I might have to use bowls and plastic wrap again." Tsuna turned his attention back to the large pot of miso soup he was preparing. "Did you get any-"

"Green tea and coffee? Don't worry; I noticed our supply was a little low, so I got a lot." She set the bags on the counter with a soft sigh. "I only wish you put as much effort into your studies as you do taking care of your friends."

"Hey mom…"

"Yes, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna bit his lip, wondering if he should show her. With a sigh he concede there was no choice, Reborn would find another way if this one didn't work.

"There was a flier about an at home tutor in the mail today…"

KHRKHRKHR

At precisely 5:30 a.m. the next day, Tsuna heard a knock at his door, just as he finished packing the nine bentos he'd prepared the night before.

"It's open, Sato-san!" Tsuna called from the kitchen, his had left early that morning for a sale, so he didn't have to worry about waking her up.

"Good morning, Sawada-sama." Answered a tall boy with a regent hair style as he entered.

"How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?"

"1,382 times, Sawada-sama."

"Make that 1,383 times. Stop calling me that."

This tradition started about a month after that fateful trip to Tokyo two years ago, when Mukuro and his gang decided to make the abandoned Kokuyoland their territory. When Tsuna found out the three of them were living on living on little more the vending machine junk food and cheep, off brand soda, he started making large meals a couple times a week and bentos every day.

Kyoya, of course, learned about this and demanded Tsuna make a bento for him as well, and to take a member of the DC with him every time he went to Kokuyoland. For the sake of fairness, Tsuna started making bentos for Sato, Tetsuya, Takashi, and Ryohei as well.

"Will Keita-san be helping today?"

"Of course, Sawada-sama."

"Good. There's more than normal." Tsuna took one more glance at the pile of bentos before getting back to work. "Mondays are the worst. Sato-san, can you grab these while I get Mukuro's stuff out of the fridge?"

"At once, Sawada-sama."

*Sweat drop* "I think I understand what Takeshi and Nii-san meant now."

KHRKHRKHR

True to form, Mukuro, Ken, and Chikusa became decidedly unfriendly toward Tsuna, even after Mukuro agreed to be his Guardian. His initial attempts to feed the three had been met with distain and disinterest, but it didn't take him long to figure out how to entice them.

Mukuro could never say no to espresso; Chikusa had a secret liking for red bean paste; and Ken practically drooled every time Tsuna brought a good tenderloin log.

"What do we get this week, bein?"

Monday was a day the three seemed to relish, grocery day.

"I'll be making spaghetti for you guys later, so don't eat any of the tomatoes." Tsuna said as he walked past the animalistic boy. "Don't even think about touching the meat, I'll prepare it later this week."

"Grr… I want it today!"

"Kufufu. Now Ken, mind your manners around the one who feeds you."

Tsuna looked up to see his Mist Guardian leaning against the kitchen door frame. Their relationship was… different from that of his other Guardians. In the beginning, Mukuro hated him, but it didn't seem like that lately.

_Heh. Maybe it's true. The way to win a man's heart is through his stomach._

Shaking his head, Tsuna started putting the groceries away while he gave Mukuro a brief update. "Reborn made his move; he'll most likely start staying with me in the next twenty-four hours." Mukuro nodded in acknowledgement. "As I said before, I won't let it cut into this part of my schedule if I can help it, but he'll likely start snooping around about you guys."

"Kufufu. I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Mukuro… just be careful about the eye. It'll help if he sees you using illusions, but anything else may…"

"Tsunayoshi-kun." Tsuna looked up from putting the meat in the freezer. "Reborn is the best the mafia world has to offer. Both you and Asami have done well to cover your tracks, but…"

"I know." Tsuna gave Mukuro a tired smile. "I'm worried too, and I don't know if I can trust him yet." Tsuna sighed and turned back to putting the food away. "I don't doubt he'll find out eventually, he's Reborn after all, but I want to settle a few things before he really gets to dig into the skeletons in our closets."

KHRKHRKHRKHR

All the information Reborn had on Sawada Tsunayoshi said he was as average as they came, his only special skill being cooking, but if the short glances the boy kept sending in his direction were any indication, they were wrong. Although Tsuna hadn't done too many eyebrow raisers during the day, it was obvious there was more to him than meets the eye.

Hibari Kyoya, the most ruthless and antisocial teen Reborn had seen in years, trusted Tsuna to make him lunch and take care of a lot of the DC's paper work. Yamamoto Takashi, freshmen captain and star player for the baseball club, distanced himself from adoring girls to have lunch with Tsuna. Sasagawa Ryohei, captain of the boxing club, allowed Tsuna to call him "nii-san" and repeatedly asked the boy to join the boxing club. Sasagawa Kyoko, idol of the freshman class, ignored almost all male classmates except Tsuna and Takeshi. Somehow Tsuna surrounded himself with some of the most popular and successful students in the school, but was disregarded by most others as being nothing special.

And the way he moved… Tsuna was graceful, almost like he'd been involved in some form of training. Be it dance, gymnastics, or martial arts, Reborn didn't know and that irritated him. Then again, something about the Yamamoto boy just screamed swordsman, rather than baseball player.

Tsuna was special somehow… Reborn could almost taste it.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

Tsuna could feel the presence of the diminutive hitman, faint and well hidden, but still there. After suffering from years of constant kidnapping and murder attempts, Tsuna was keenly aware of whenever he was being followed. Reborn was good enough that Tsuna couldn't find where he was hiding, or exactly how far away he was (which is what clued him into that it was Reborn and not a random assassin), but he could tell the general direction.

Tsuna wasn't completely sure who he could trust yet, and even though he'd already resigned himself to becoming the next Vongola, he wasn't going to let his guard down yet. Hiding Yoshie wouldn't be easy, but it had to be done. Hiding from Reborn would cut heavily into his duties as Yoshie and training, but he would manage.

Reborn was said to be near omnipotent, but he was still human (he was pretty sure Reborn was human lol) and humans slip up. Even Reborn.

Tsuna could only hope he was right.

KHRKHRKHR

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna looked up and wasn't surprised to find what looked like an infant wearing a three piece suit and fedora perched on the front gate of Namimori. He'd been wondering when Reborn planned on confronting him and was a little surprised he waited until Tsuna finished with all of his DC duties.

"Can I help you?" Best to play clueless for now.

"Yes. You see, my name is Reborn and your mother-"

"Wait. Reborn's the name on that at home tutor flier we got. Don't tell me my mom hired an infant to tutor me." Tsuna knew it was dangerous to cut off and insult an Arcobaleno in one go, but he had a role to play, for now.

"Yes, that would be me." Reborn narrowed his eyes. "I'm actually a highly accomplished hitman…" _No shit._ "… and was sent to train you to be the next boss of the Vongola Famiglia." _Again, no shit._

"Wait, you want to make me a mafia boss!" Tsuna didn't raise his voice, but he did a pretty good surprised face.

"Not just any mafia boss, but the boss of the largest and most powerful mafia famiglia in the world." Reborn jumped off of the fence and resisted the urge to kick him in the back of the head, choosing, instead, to land on it and get comfortable. "Now let's get home and-"

"I can't." Tsuna started walking toward Kokuyoland.

"You don't really have a choice in the matter, Tsuna. Being a mafia boss is-"

"Not that." Tsuna was playing with fire, interrupting the deadliest hitman in the world three times. "I have to do a few more things before I go home today."

"Like?"

"You'll see when we get there."

Tsuna was surprised when Reborn didn't protest. _Maybe he's still putting together an assessment? _Whatever the reason, Tsuna was glad to not have to argue with Reborn, it could have turned ugly.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

Tsuna was ambushed by Ken as soon as he entered the living area.

"You're late, bein!"

"Ken… your yelling is annoying."

"Shut up, Kaki-pi!" Ken shouted toward the dull voice coming from the recreational area, before turning his attention back to Tsuna. "I'm hungry and…" He trailed off, finally noticing Reborn sitting on Tsuna's head. "Wha-"

"I'll get started on the spaghetti now." Tsuna cut off Ken and sent him a glare before he said anything that would make Reborn suspicious. "Where's Mukuro?"

"Mukuro-san went for a walk. Now get to work, bein!"

Tsuna knew Reborn was taking careful mental notes of everything being said and done, but he was certain wouldn't get anything useful from this trip. As long as he could keep Ken from slipping up, that is.

Mukuro showed up just as Tsuna finished taking the home made garlic bread out of the oven, an hour later. His right eye was covered with a gauze eye patch; apparently he took Tsuna's warning seriously.

"Smells good, Tsunayoshi-kun. I see you made extra again."

"Yeah, I'm planning on making some lasagna on Saturday, but you can use whatever I don't set aside for that." Tsuna did one last once over before turning deeming everything ready. "Can you carry the sauce; I'll get the bread and noodles?"

It wasn't until everyone was settled at the table that Reborn finally decided to speak up.

"I heard you were a good cook, but this is quite impressive, Tsuna."

"Thank you, Reborn." Tsuna gave the Sun Arcobaleno a small smile. "Your flier said something about having teaching experience in Italy, so you must have had some good spaghetti, right?"

"I'm actually Italian, so yes, but you do a fine job. It's been a while since I've had such a well made sauce." Reborn wasn't the type to lie about what he thought of food, so that actually made Tsuna feel good. "I look forward to trying some of your lasagna."

"Oya, so you'll be joining us for dinner again?" The comment was off hand, but Tsuna could tell Mukuro didn't like the idea of Reborn hanging around.

"Of course, where ever Tsuna goes, I go."

"Oh? How interesting." Mukuro gave a pleasant smile that actually creeped out Tsuna with it's… _niceness_. "Speaking of interesting, I have something I wanted to show you, Tsunayoshi-kun."

"I'm getting better at containing and altering the illusions on command." So he was trying to bring it up casually. "Watch."

Suddenly the air seemed to shift and Tsuna could see a very faint indigo glow surrounding Mukuro. The room blurred and almost looked like it was melting for a moment, before it settled. The scene was that of a forest of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, all traces of the run down park were gone, it was as if they were actually outside, Tsuna could even smell the sweet sent that always accompanied the pink snow.

"Impressive." Tsuna looked back at Reborn. "Where did you learn to do that?"

He was suspicious, but Reborn needed to acknowledge the people Tsuna wanted him to, and one of those people is Mukuro.

"I don't know, I think I've always known." Mukuro lied smoothly. "I grew up as an orphan and this ability helped me survive."

"I see…"

KHRKHRKHRKHR

"I'm home."

"Welcome home, Tsu-kun. Did you enjoy dinner with Mukuro-kun and his friends?"

"Yeah, I made spaghetti."

"Oh, how nice. Maybe I should make spaghetti more often, now that we have an Italian guest, right Reborn-kun."

"So you guys already met." Reborn must have gone to his house sometime during the school day. "You set up the guest room, right?"

"I'll be staying in your room." Reborn jumped down from his perch on Tsuna's head. "As your tutor, I must supervise you all hours of the night."

Nana and Tsuna exchanged nervous glances that might not be a good idea.

"Reborn-kun… maybe you should reconsider."

Reborn sent the nervous pair a suspicious look before heading up the stairs to Tsuna's room without another word.

"Reborn wait!"

Tsuna rushed to catch up, but it was already too late.

"Roarrrrrr."

"Akira! Don't eat him!"

(A.N. And here's reborn. I couldn't help but patch things up between Tsuna and Mukuro a little bit. I didn't want him to outright hate Tsuna through the story, but their relationship will still be a little tense for a while. As for the other Guardians, they'll fall within Reborn's radar probably as soon as next chapter. As far as Gokudera goes, he'll probably show up either in the next chapter or the chapter after that, followed shortly by Lambo, so all of the Guardians, except for Chrome, will be assembled. I don't know how or when I'll introduce Chrome, but she won't be a Guardian in this fic, sorry Chrome lovers, but Tsuna's official Mist Guardian will have to be Mukuro.)


	13. War of the wills

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 13: War of the wills

As soon as Reborn opened the door to his charges room, he wished he didn't. Lounging lazily on his student's bed was a big, black cat. A very big cat.

It didn't take him long to decide to transform Leon into a gun.

The cat glared at him, as it jumped off the bed and stocked forward. Its muzzle curled back, revealing the large canines attached to its powerful jaw. A growl resounded through the room as the cat got even closer; its sleek black fur seemed to quiver from the animal's excitement.

Reborn griped Leon tighter.

*Roarrr*

Reborn took aim.

"Akira! Don't eat him!"

Just as Reborn was preparing to fire, his student came barreling into the room. To his surprise, the cat immediately backed off and… bowed its head in _submission_.

"Reborn… it's dangerous to go in my room when I'm not in it." Tsuna passed reborn and headed straight for the big cat. "This is Akira, a very good friend of mine."

"You keep a Black Panther as a-"

"Jaguar."

"What?" Reborn hissed through clenched teeth.

"Akira is a Black Jaguar. They're an endangered species and killing one comes with a hefty price."

"Tsuna." Reborn was pissed. "You can't keep a Jaguar as a pet."

"Sorry, but Akira stays." Tsuna stopped Reborn before he could protest. "I've had Akira for two years now. He's had all of his shots, gets regular flee treatments and vet visits, and even has a collar." Tsuna pointed out the bright orange collar around the Jaguars neck, on it were two tags; a black mouse shaped one that declared him rabies free and a dark blue, simple circle with Akira's name on the front and all of Tsuna's information on the back. "I even have all the legal paper work saying I can own him."

Reborn was stunned. Really stunned. Never in his life had he met someone so comfortable around such a powerful carnivore, let alone confident in his ability to keep it as a _pet_.

"Let me see it."

Tsuna got up from the bed and pulled a file out of his desk drawer before handing it to Reborn. He waited, casually giving the now purring cat an ear rub, as Reborn inspected the papers with great scrutiny.

"Be that as it may." Reborn said, closing the file. "Such an animal should be-"

"Don't even think about it." Tsuna's voice grew cold. "If you try to put him in a cage, I'll feed you to him."

"…" Somehow, Reborn knew his student was completely serious. "Tsuna… young cats may seem friendly, but they tend to eat the one that feeds them."

"You came here as a tutor, not animal control." Tsuna's glare intensified. "I don't care how many people you've killed as a hitman, you won't take Akira away from me."

The silence stretched out for several minutes. Reborn refused to back down, his students life was in danger as long as _Akira_ was around and he wouldn't stand for it. Not even seeing the Jaguar lay its massive head on Tsuna's lap could change his mind. Not even the purring…

He didn't know Jaguars purred.

*Sigh* "Fine." Tsuna smiled victoriously. "But if he ever becomes a threat to your safety, I'll dispose of him my way."

"Just try it." Tsuna glared into Reborn's black eyes. "I promise you'll regret it."

And Reborn could see that he was completely serious.

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True to his word, Reborn slept in Tsuna's room that night and was extremely irritated when Tsuna woke him at 5:00 a.m. the next morning. After he spent nearly the whole night watching the Jaguar sleeping in his student's bed, the little brat decided _5:00 a.m_. was a reasonable time to get up and get ready.

Never mind Reborn normally woke up between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. anyway.

"What the hell are you doing?" Not even twenty-four hours and the boy was already getting him to curse. "What teenage boy wakes up at five in the morning?"

"Go back to sleep, I just need to take care of some things before I go to school."

"As I said yesterday, where ever you go, I go." Reborn hopped down from his hammock. "Besides, it's not like you do this every day."

"…"

"You do?"

"Sorry, but I have a pretty full schedule and need to get up early."

"I'm going to have to cut into-"

"No, you won't." Tsuna replied in the same stern voice from the previous night. "I know you came to train me, but I have things I need to do and I won't allow you to cut into that."

_Finally. _Reborn pointed his gun at Tsuna's head. "And if I threaten to kill you if you don't listen?"

"You wouldn't be the first." Reborn's grip faltered, but the gun didn't drop. "I don't take to kindly to threats, and those who issue them tend to learn the hard way."

"You… know more than you let on."

_More than you could ever know. _"No. I just have experience with people trying to kill me."

"How long."

"Since I started school. I never knew why, but I guess it's pretty obvious now."

"Tsuna…"

"NO!" Tsuna took a deep breath; he couldn't afford to lose his temper now. "If I'm in line to succeed the Vongola, or any mafia family, one of my parents has to be in line as well."

Tsuna refused to look at Reborn, afraid his expression would give away the feelings he'd buried. It wasn't hard to resent a father that was never around, but its worse when you find out the reason he's never around is he's a thug. Such a great message to send your child.

"I suppose Iemitsu has a lot to answer for."

"This Vongola thing has done a lot to ruin my life." _And theirs. _"I won't let you or anyone else take away the things that make my life worthwhile."

"…" Reborn wasn't a kind person, but… "We still need to train."

"I know." Tsuna headed out of his room. "Will after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays work?"

"You'll have to put in twice the effort."

"That's fine."

"Then we begin tonight."

KHRKHRKHRKHR

During lunch later that day, Tsuna had Mukuro conger up some complex illusions around the reception. Now he could talk to his four Guardians without having to worry about Reborn listening in. Kyoya wasn't happy about the crowding in his office, but recognized they needed to be able to talk undisturbed.

"I've managed to convince him to agree to a training schedule, but I still haven't figured out a way to sneak away for extended periods of time."

"Why don't you just EXTREMELY distract the EXTREME baby?"

"I would if it was that easy, Nii-san. But this is Reborn; he isn't the type to fall for cheap tricks."

"What about that herbivore, Asami?"

"He told me to wait and not contact him."

Asami had been distracted lately and it was becoming a problem. Even though Tsuna was good at keeping an eye on mafia activities, it was always helpful to have someone else on the lookout. Why does Asami have to have a thing for a hot headed photographer twelve years younger than himself?

"I won't be able to work as much, but if I can make it look like typical internet surfing, I should be alright on that end."

Takeshi nodded. "What about getting the kid to recognize us as your Guardians?"

"Mukuro's already got a head start on that, all he had to do was demonstrate his abilities. I'd suggest you all just try to stand out and show off a little."

Tsuna couldn't help but smirk at the thought of his… eccentric Guardians actually _trying_ to stick out. This should be interesting.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

Tsuna was finding it all too easy to piss off the supposedly infallible Reborn. The second he left the reception room, Tsuna found himself subject to Reborn's famous tough love.

A kick to the back of the head always does wonders for a budding headache.

"Disappear like that again and I'll put a bullet in your head."

"What's the matter, Reborn? Have I ruffled your feathers?"

That earned him a Leon mallet to the back.

"Screw the soft approach."

"Soft… tsk… hahahahaha- ow!"

"Enough. We have work to do."

"Right."

Never before had Tsuna been so glad for Kyoya's sadistic streak, it helped prepare him for some of what Reborn had in store for him.

Some.

"I have to WHAT?"

"Out run three Dobermans with steaks strapped to your legs."

"How can you say something like that so matter of fact?"

"That's the way I role."

"Son of a- ow! Stop doing that!"

"Quit whining and get to work."

*Bark… Bark*

Tsuna almost panicked as the large dogs came charging, before he remembered a trick that worked with Akira. He accessed a small portion of his dying will flames and channeled them enough to turn his eyes an amber color.

"SIT!"

*Whine*

All three Dobermans stopped in their tracks and bowed their heads in submission.

Tsuna smirked.

Reborn wanted to gape, but held it in.

"I have a pet Jaguar. What did you expect?"

If Reborn was a lesser man, he would have pouted. Instead he settled on scowling and whacking his student with his Leon mallet.

"Fine. You can run around town with this weight strapped to your legs." Leon transformed into a one hundred pound weight with two three foot long chains protruding from its side and connecting to twin shackles. "Stop before I tell you to and I'll increase the weight."

_I never thought I'd say this, but thank god for Kyoya-san and regular exposure to sadism._ Tsuna froze while placing the shackles on his legs. _That sounded so… Hibari the domina- Stop. Do _not_ go there._

"What are you waiting for, get moving." Seeing the light flush on his student's cheeks made Reborn curious. "Do you have a fetish for chains or something?"

"Wha-" Tsuna sputtered indignantly. "Hell no!"

"Hibari Kyoya then."

If Tsuna had been drinking something, he would have spit it out. _Damn mind reader._

"I'm not a mind reader." Tsuna looked horrified. "But you and Hibari Kyoya have been friends for years. You seem… close."

"Kyoya-san and I aren't like that!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really really?"

"You know that won't change my answer, right?"

"Perhaps, but I was hoping for more of a reaction."

"Sorry to disappoint. Kyoya-san doesn't like overly emotional herbivores."

It was Reborn's turn to quirk an eyebrow.

"Herbivore?"

"It's what he calls weak people."

"And what does he call you?"

"Omnivore."

"I see." Reborn looked Tsuna up and down, as if trying to see something that wasn't there. "Hibari is quite strong; he would be a fine addition to the Vongola famiglia."

"Kyoya-san hates anyone and anything that breaks the rules. Mafia included."

"The Cloud needs to float freely."

"What?" _Guardian number two, secured. _"What do you mean by cloud?"

Instead of answering, Reborn simply kicked him in the back of the head again.

"Get moving."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, you sadistic toddler."

Namimori never seemed so big before.

(A.N. Reborn recognized Kyoya, yay XD. I know Tsuna seems a little antagonistic in this chapter, but he's trying to keep Reborn from completely overhauling his life and most things say Reborn reacts best to assertive behavior. I kind of like assertive Tsuna, it shows the years of influence from Kyoya, Mukuro, and Asami. I mean, anyone who hangs out with thee sadists is bound to develop an abrasive personality. Speaking of Asami, how many people caught the comment about Akihito, I just couldn't resist mentioning him lol. Maybe they'll make an appearance later, but if Tsuna has anything to do with the Hong Kong Arch, it'll be in another fic as a side story, and not in Hacker. Well, tell me what you think ja ne.)


	14. Training methods

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 14: Training methods

Saturday was normally a day Tsuna spent in front of a computer screen or training with one of his Guardians. Reborn's interference had made it a purely training day, but Tsuna didn't mind that too much.

"Hmmm… Your file says you should only be of average physical fitness."

"I'm friends with the baseball captain, the boxing captain, and Hibari Kyoya. When you hang around three muscle heads all the time, you pick up a few things."

"But your grades…"

"Just because I can, doesn't mean I'm going to show off."

"Hmmm…"

Less than a week and Reborn already had some suspicions, but it was more about the normal skills he hid. Tsuna didn't mind letting Reborn know he was smarter and stronger than he let on because it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for Reborn to look into his past and see the bullying he suffered from. The likely hood of Reborn connecting him to Yoshie was slim at this point, but the threat was still there.

"So… what are we going to do today?" Tsuna gave the North American Grey Wolf a strip of bacon as he rubbed it behind the ear.

"Since every carnivorous animal I try to use seems to fall in love with you…" _Maybe I should switch to reptiles._ "I was thinking we should adapt that ability into a fighting technique."

"I'm not turning Akira into an attack cat."

"I didn't say you had to, but having an animal partner in a fight isn't uncommon. Usually it's a smaller animal, like a bird or domestic dog, but we can work with Akira."

Tsuna gave Leon a quick glance. He knew about having animal partners, but he'd been more concerned about giving Akira the domestic treatment. Of course the Jaguar got regular exercise and was given a chance to hunt in the forest surrounding Namimori, but never did Tsuna consider making Akira his animal partner.

"He isn't a domestic cat Tsuna, he's a predator. Akira would probably enjoy it."

Tsuna bit his lip as the Wolf snuggled up to him (Akira would probably get jealous at the smell, so he'd have to take a shower before going home). If he was even going to consider doing this, he'd have to talk to the Kokuyoland boys first.

"I'll… think about it."

"…"

One thing Reborn figured out fast was that it was hard to force Tsuna to do anything. The boy wasn't afraid of physical violence and refused to back down when confronted. It was almost as if Tsuna didn't even need a tutor to toughen him up.

Reborn hated wasting his time.

"Have an answer by next Saturday. For now we'll work on your stamina."

Tsuna groaned. Reborn was having a hard time finding stuff to torture him with, so he got creative. When his schemes using dangerous animals all failed, he moved on to weighing Tsuna down with lead prison balls, strapping a sled or tire to him to ride on, and whipping him whenever Tsuna slowed down.

"Great."

"You have a better idea?"

"Actually…"

KHRKHRKHRKHR

"Let's have an EXTREME match Sawada!"

Rather than being dragged around town for five hours, Tsuna decide to try and endear Ryohei to Reborn for the position of Sun Guardian.

"Do I ever disappoint, Nii-san?"

They exchanged friendly grins as they circled each other on the mat. Since they were facing each other, they were going to fight without the equipment, so it was a bare knuckle match anything goes.

Kyoko only allowed these kinds of matches with people she knew.

As the bell rang Ryohei lunged forward, fist drawn back, but Tsuna dodged to the right. Ryohei followed up immediately by pivoting and launching a volley of fast punches.

Reborn watched on the sidelines as the two boys danced around the ring, exchanging blows without bothering to pull any punches. He paid more attention to the way they moved rather than actual technique. At first Reborn though Tsuna would be fast and flexible, while lacking in the physical strength department, but was quickly proven wrong.

Tsuna redirected a right hook and used the momentum to spin himself and launch a high kick. Ryohei managed to block, but the force from the blow caused him to slide to the side a few inches, leaving scuff marks on the mat. Tsuna retracted his leg before Ryohei got the chance to grab it and jumped back a foot.

Reborn could tell they weren't giving it their all, but the display was still impressive for a couple of teenage boys. Both showed remarkable skill and talent. Talent he wanted to nurture and watch grow.

Perhaps there was something he could do for Tsuna.

"Tsuna."

Ryohei stopped Tsuna's knee from nailing him in the face when Reborn's voice rang out, forcing them to break apart. They looked up to see Reborn perched on one of the bars holding up the ropes.

"You're fast and agile, with strength that would surprise larger opponents. Your movements suggest experience with a variety of opponents, so you are able to adapt your technique based on the situation, which shows Hibari's influence in your training. I do not believe, however, that hand to hand should be your primary form of self defense."

Ryohei and Tsuna shared a glance. That was one of the concerns they'd had when they found out about Reborn's imminent arrival. They'd thought it be best if Reborn didn't know about Tsuna's weapon choice at first, but knew Tsuna's connection the DC would help to explain if necessary.

"Actually… I use a weapon whenever someone tries to kidnap or kill me."

"Really?" Reborn's eyes narrowed. He'd been expecting to at least help his student find that much. "What?"

"I use darts."

"How good are you with them?"

"I can hit a bull's-eye with no problem, but…" _Reborn _is_ the kind of person who could help with this. _"…I have a hard time controlling them when I'm jumping around. I've tried to adjust, but I noticed a balance issue. They're just regular darts from a dart board game…" _Even though I sometimes dip them in poison. _…so I was thinking of upgrading, but I don't know how to use senbon or hollowed out darts."

_Good. _"I have some experience with all projectiles and will be able to help you with balance and mid air combat control." Reborn smirked; it wasn't bad working with an advanced student. "I'll call up an associate that is familiar with all types of poisons and toxins, even if you already use them, and I'm sure you do." Tsuna wouldn't meet his eyes, confirming that suspicion. "Some of the materials you have access to, are limited. This associate will be able to get you venom from the Wandering Spider and the Box Jellyfish if you want it."

Tsuna practically drooled at the possibility of getting a hold of the dangerous neurotoxins. Even Asami had a hard time getting his hands on two of the most venomous creatures in the world, so Tsuna's supply of it was severely limited. He's never been able to really experiment with it, but if he had access to more…

He had to ask Mukuro to keep a hold of some the future assassins that would be coming after him.

"Sounds good to me."

"Perfect. It'll take her at least a week to get here."

_She? So my new teacher will be the Poison Scorpion. I heard she and Reborn had a bad break up not long ago._

"She? Is she your girl friend or something?"

"My ex-lover actually." Reborn smirked. "Fourth one."

"Should I be worried?"

"…"

"I'll try to play nice."

"Good idea."

"I EXTREMELY don't understand."

Reborn and Tsuna turned back to the forgotten Ryohei (poor Nii-san).

"Ah. Sasagawa Ryohei, your fist shine like the sun. You would be a great addition to Tsuna's mafia famiglia."

"Sawada is like my EXTREME little brother so I'm EXTREMELY happy to be a part of his EXTREME family!"

"Sometimes being simple minded and blunt can be some of the most endearing qualities. Isn't that right, Tsuna."

"To be perfectly honest..." Tsuna watched Ryohei's little celebration with fond eyes. "… Nii-san's simplemindedness used to annoy me, but he really does make a great older brother."

"Truly a bright and powerful figure, like the sun."

_Three down, one to go. Now all I have to do is find a Storm Guardian and a Thunder Guardian."_

KHRKHRKHR

*Namimori Airport*

"Yeah, my plane just landed."

A boy with silver hair and green eyes walked toward the luggage rack as he spoke on a cell phone.

"All of the paper work has been taken care of right?"

"…"

"Of course. I'm not the type to screw up."

"…"

"Che. I don't know why there's so much hype for this one brat."

"…"

"I don't care who he's related to, if he's not suited, he's not suited."

"…"

"The only reason I'm even bothering to do this is because Reborn-san asked me if not…"

"…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"…"

"I already said I'd take care of it!"

"…"

"Look, I got to go, I'll contact you later."

The silver haired boy let out a sigh of frustration as he hung up the phone. It was always tiring to deal with people he didn't respect. Speaking of which…

"Get out of my way!" He yelled as Airport security tried to stop him.

"I'm sorry sir, but we'll have to ask you to come with us."

"What the hell! Why?"

"You have come under suspicion of transporting illegal substances. We need to check your belongings before you can go any further."

"How dare you…"

"That's enough."

"Reborn-san?"

Reborn appeared behind the security guards who paled at the sight of him.

"I-I'm sorry sir! We didn't realize he was with you!"

Reborn only glared at the cowering guards who soon scurried off with their tales tucked between their legs. This was why Reborn was one of the few people the silver haired boy actually respected. He was strong and could control many, but was responsible with that power (yeah right. Haha).

"I didn't expect to see you so soon, Reborn-san."

"There's been a change of plans. I want you to confront him on the first day, don't bother waiting."

"But I thought-"

"No need. I've assessed his abilities under normal circumstances; I just need you to take him by surprise."

"Che. As if I'd need the advantage of surprise to take down a weakling like that punk."

"You'd do well not to under estimate him."

"Reborn-san?"

"Welcome to Japan, Gokudera Hayato."

(A.N. Some of you are saying FINALLY, it's Goku-chan. I wanted to hold off bringing him at first and thought this would be a great place to introduce him. Now that Reborn has started acknowledging that Tsuna doesn't really need much initial training, we can move on into the advanced stuff. I have no intention of making Reborn unnecessary, but most of what Reborn taught cannon Tsuna would be useless in this fic, what I need him to do is smooth out the rough edges and iron out what kind of fighter Tsuna will be. He also serves as a good reason to bring in Goku-chan and Lambo (who isn't far away), so Reborn still serves a vital role in this story, especially later on during the ring conflict. Reborn will still purposely put Tsuna in dangerous situations to test him and will still be a total sadist during training, but the more mature and dark Tsuna will garner more respect and understanding, so Reborn may seem a little bit nicer here than in the cannon story. Anyway, I'll probably have the next chapter done tomorrow, so stay tuned. Ja ne.)


	15. The Smokin' Bomb

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 15: The Smokin' Bomb

This was… scary.

"Reborn…"

"Yes?"

"Is there… anything you want to tell me?"

"Not particularly. Why do you ask?"

_Why is he doing this to me? _When Reborn took off earlier, Tsuna took the chance to get a little work done. He looked into Vongola and expected to find updated files on himself, which he did, but he didn't expect to find out Nono was going to use a pyromaniac to test him. _Smokin' Bomb Gokudera._

Tsuna had nothing against one who uses explosives, having been an avid student in the subject, but Gokudera's methods were primitive and fast. No wire to cut and no time to diffuse. Dynamite was something Tsuna tended to avoid. Of course Tsuna had no doubt he'd be able to win in a fight against Gokudera, but he didn't know if he could avoid damaging Namimori.

So yeah… this was scary.

_Hopefully Kyoya-san won't hold me accountable for any of the damage. _Tsuna almost wanted to cry. _As if I'd get that lucky._

"Reborn…"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure there isn't anything you want to tell me?"

"Of course, as I said, there isn't anything in particular."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really really?"

"Now you're just being a pain in the ass."

"Heh, look who's talking."

"…"

Although the two had come to a sort of understanding, there was still an underlying tension that refused to lift. Both had secrets and both knew the other had secrets, so suspicion was a given. Especially when Reborn didn't mention a teenage bomber coming to Japan or that all of the other potential successors where dead.

Way to establish trust.

"Re-"

"Tsuna."

Tsuna blinked as he was cut off. Reborn's tone was mostly neutral, but seemed to have a dangerous edge to it. Maybe he'd pushed too far.

"Yes?"

"Shut up and go to sleep or I _will_ kill you."

Too far indeed.

KHRKHRKHRKHR

Tsuna sat stiffly in his desk, waiting for the inevitable. He'd managed to discretely inform his Guardians of their new guest. Kyoya had not been pleased to hear of a pyro coming to disrupt his peaceful (yeah right) and had proceeded to take his frustrations out on the general student population.

Minor violations, like shoes being untied or ties being crooked, were punished with a harsh biting. Everyone was on edge and checking their uniforms three times over, hoping to be spared from Kyoya's bad mood.

Not bad for it only being 8:00 a.m.

Reborn… the bastard had the gall to act innocent as he did his best to put a wrench in Tsuna's carefully organized life. Reborn hadn't been able to screw with much since he got there, but adding more players to the mix always shifted the favor of the game. The more eyes and ears Reborn has, the more likely he is to find something out.

_But what… am I afraid off?_

Even if Reborn found out about him being Yoshie, the likely hood of repercussions was small. While Yoshie had been a persistent thorn in the side for the Vongola, most of his actions had been of benefit to the mafia famiglia. Yoshie had broken none of the Vendici laws (none they knew about anyway) and he hadn't stolen anything other than information. If anyone found out, they'd probably…

Try to get him to teach others how to do what he could. Try to get him to steal millions from rivals. Try to get him to find fugitives.

He was afraid of being exploited.

Every mafia encounter he'd had was about profit or what he could do for them, even with Asami. He'd been subject to multiple attempts of exploitation; such as trying to kidnap him to get to his father, trying to kidnap him to get to Kyoya, and trying to kill him to take him out of line of succession.

He'd never forget the time he learned Enrico had tried to have him assassinated.

Tsuna snapped out of his musings as he heard the distinct footsteps of his teacher approaching the classroom. Fifteen minutes late.

_No avoiding it now._

When the teacher walked in he was followed by a sight that had all of the girls (and some of the guys) drooling.

Gokudera was a handsome boy with shoulder length silver hair and sharp green eyes. He wore his uniform messily, with no tie and the button up shirt open to reveal a red undershirt. He wore an excess of rings and necklaces that were decorated with skulls, not even trying to hide his uniform violations.

His scowl only made the girls drool more.

*Sweat drop* _I guess it's true; girls can't resist a bad boy. _Tsuna paused for a moment. _Kyoya-san _does_ have quiet the fan club._

"Class, I'd like to introduce you to our new exchange student, Gokudera Hayato. He just moved here from Italy and is still learning our customs; I want all of you to help him as best you can." Nezu-sensei turned his attention back to Gokudera. "Please use the open seat in the back."

Tsuna could feel the other boys eyes boring holes into him as he tactfully looked out the window. As Gokudera passed Tsuna's desk, he paused and kicked the leg, but Tsuna didn't react.

"Tsk…"

"Gokudera-kun! Please go to your seat so I can start the lesson."

"Whatever." With that Gokudera continued his journey to the back of the room.

"Are you alright, Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna turned to see Kyoko's worried eyes settled on him.

"I'm fine, Kyoko."

"If you're sure…"

"Don't worry."

"Alright…"

As Tsuna turned his gaze from the red head, he felt a calloused hand land on his shoulder. Turning he could see Takeshi giving him reassuring smile, to which Tsuna nodded in return before turning his attention to his iPhone.

_Quadratics using imaginary numbers? Please, how pitiful. I'll just try and get some work done._

KHRKHRKHR

Lunch once again found Tsuna and his Guardians in the carefully warded reception room. These meetings would have to be regular, even if Reborn hated that Tsuna disappeared completely for at least an hour every day.

"Gokudera appears hostile, but has yet to approach me."

"Didn't you say this was supposed to be a test, Tsuna? Maybe he's just here to watch."

"No, they have Reborn doing that. I think this may be an attempt to make me slip up."

"But you EXTREMELY never slip up?"

"I know that and you guys know that, but the Vongola doesn't. I think I might have to down play my abilities if Gokudera attacks me."

"Kufufu." The other four room occupants turned their attention to the chuckling Mist Guardian. "The Vongola are attempting to play the game master and they don't even realize the futility of such an attempt."

"Hn. The Omnivore is more than capable of dealing with a single herbivore." Kyoya narrowed his eyes at Tsuna. "I expect you to keep damage at a minimum. Any expenses will be taken out of your cut."

Tsuna bit his lip to hold in the chuckle that threatened to spill out from the offhand comments from his more volatile Guardians. Even if they weren't the type to do so, it was clear they trusted him, even with his connections to the mafia famiglia that had disrupted the peaceful (coughlesschaoticcough) atmosphere of Namimori.

"Ha ha. Mukuro's been a lot nicer lately."

"Yeah, I EXTREMELY noticed too."

Mukuro scowled as the two jocks went on to demonstrate why they thought Mukuro was being nicer. None of the wild theories were correct, of course, but it was amusing to hear.

"Maybe he's EXTREMELY in love with Sawada!"

Tsuna started chocking on his own spit, Kyoya pulled out his tonfas, and Mukuro pulled out his trident in a span of five seconds after the words came spilling out of his mouth. Unfortunately, neither Guardian noticed the ire of the other two.

"Ha ha. You could be right. He is mostly nice to Tsuna."

The two volatile Guardians inched forward.

"That's right!" Ryohei paused for a second. "But what about Hibari's EXTRE- ow!"

Ryohei and whatever else the two had planned on saying that was cut off as Kyoya slammed a tonfa into Ryohei's head.

"Kamikorosu!"

KHRKHRKHR

"Pathetic."

Tsuna looked up from his observation point on the roof. He'd been waiting for Gokudera to confront him and isolating himself after school seemed like the best way to accelerate the process without anyone getting hurt.

"Hello Gokudera-kun how was your first day at Namimori?"

Gokudera seemed startled by the polite response. He'd expected the boy to react to being called pathetic. Never the less, Gokudera scowled and started walking toward the petite boy.

"I've been watching you all day. You're weak and spineless, doing errands for the clubs and never striving to better yourself. Such a weak person has no place as Vongola Decimo."

_How annoying. _Tsuna knew the boy had been watching him, but jumping to conclusions on the first day of surveillance was a mistake that got many killed.

"But we only just met today. I don't think you could learn so much about one person in a couple of hours." _A bit of a lie, but oh well. _"Besides, I only do errands for the Disciplinary Committee. Speaking of which, you're out of dress code and unnatural hair colors aren't allowed here."

"It is natural you brat."

_Knew that already, but I didn't think he'd get so defensive. Gokudera Hayato is incredibly hot headed and quick to temper, this could end badly._

"I don't care who you do it for, an errand boy has no place as a Vongola heir." Gokudera pulled out sticks of dynamite and proceeded to throw them at the smaller boy. "Die!"

Tsuna did a back hand spring to put some distance between himself and the flying dynamite and three some darts to extinguish the flames.

"Damn you…"

"Now Gokudera, I believe I told you to take Tsuna by surprise."

Reborn appeared on the roof fence, looking completely unperturbed by a mafia teenager trying to kill his student.

"Reborn? Don't tell me you set this up?"

"Of course."

"Why am I not surprised."

Reborn just smirked in reply before turning his attention back to Gokudera.

"You need to be careful while fighting Tsuna, he does have some potential."

"Never mind that. You did mean it when you said I could be Vongola Decimo if I killed him, right?"

"Wait? What?" _I've gone down both his _real_ family histories and nothing suggests any connection to Primo or Secondo, even if he's a descendent of… Oh shit! All four of… and Gokudera are… I don't believe in destiny… I don't believe in destiny… I don-_

"Double bomb!"

Tsuna's mental rant was cut off as he jumped to avoid and put out more bombs. He didn't approach the other boy yet, trying to assess how he moved and how many bombs he could carry on his person.

"Damn it! Quit moving around!" Gokudera complained.

"As if I'd be that stupid!" Tsuna shot back.

"Fine then! Triple bomb!"

Just as Gokudera was preparing to launch a massive wave of dynamite, but he ended up dropping a few.

_Shit… This is the end of me. _Gokudera closed his eyes as he resigned himself to his fate, before he was suddenly knocked down. Explosions covered the roof, but far fewer than he expected. _What the…?_

Gokudera opened his eyes to see the body that had knocked him down and covered him during the explosion was in fact Tsuna. As he raised his head a bit, he saw many of the bombs he'd dropped still there, only the fuses had been stopped by some darts. Tsuna had put out as many as he could before he covered Gokudera, trying to minimize damage to everything but himself.

"Ngh…" Tsuna groaned as he slowly sat up, his back stinging fiercely from the minor burns he'd sustained.

Tsuna opened his eyes to see Gokudera just staring at him with his mouth wide open.

"You know… It's rude to stare."

"…"

"Gokudera-kun?"

"Juu-Juudaime!"

"Wha-"

Gokudera suddenly had a look of affection and reverence as he proceeded to bow to Tsuna.

"The truth is I never wanted to be Vongola Decimo." Tsuna raised an eyebrow. "It's just… when I heard the successor was a Japanese kid the same age as me; I had to make sure you were worthy."

"Goku…dera-kun?"

"But when you save my life… I'll follow you anywhere, Juudaime! I'll be your right hand forever!"

Tsuna could only stare as the boy continued to prattle on about how proud he was to be Vongola Decimo's right hand man, barely noticing as Reborn advanced on the sight.

"Because you defeated him, Gokudera is now your subordinate that is mafia law." Tsuna gave him pleading eyes that Reborn promptly ignored. "Congratulation's Tsuna, you have another subordinate."

_I'm not sure if I like this one yet._

(A.N. Yeah Goku-chan. has anyone ever noticed that Gokudera often looks like an overly excitable puppy? Well I think he does and am looking forward to showing how jealous a dog gets when it has to share its master. Ja ne.)


	16. Crack

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 16: Crack

"Gokudera will make a good edition to your famiglia, however…"

Tsuna paused in his contemplation of how to make the best of the situation to turn his attention back to Reborn. The fight had been over for nearly twenty minutes and the three were still on the roof and Gokudera had yet to pause in professing his undying loyalty.

"Whether or not you can be Tsuna's right hand man is up for debate, considering he already has four other capable family members."

"Four?" _He shouldn't have noticed Takeshi yet,_ _maybe he recognized Tetsuya-san as a potential Guardian._

"Three of whom show extraordinary potential as Guardians, the other as a member of CEDEF."

_So I was right. _"Tetsuya-san?"

"Of course."

"But… I'm not… I thought…?"

At that moment, Gokudera very much resembled a kicked dog.

"Gokudera-kun…"

"However the Storm is traditionally the Vongola's right hand and the Cloud often becomes involved with CEDEF, so you just have to prove yourself to the others."

*Sight* "Of course."

"Of course I'll prove myself, Reborn-san! I'll just have to defeat all-"

Tsuna placed a hand on Gokudera's shoulder to stop him mid rant. None of his Guardians would react well to a hotheaded new comer trying to upset the balance they'd achieved.

"Gokudera-kun… Hayato…" Gokudera's face lit up. "I won't have anyone, and I mean _anyone_…" Tsuna turned to glare at Reborn. "…trying to hurt my friends."

"But Juudaime-"

"You said you'd follow me, right?" When he got a nod he continued. "If you want to follow me, you have to respect my choices, especially my choices in friends."

"I… understand."

Tsuna nodded, finding Goku- Hayato properly chastised, Tsuna gave the boy a second look.

Hayato was physically fit and well adapt to melee combat, so on that note he would be ideal for the position of Storm Guardian, but the other side of it was his personality. Hayato was brash and quick to anger, from what he'd seen, and appeared to be rather possessive of his new boss. Tsuna couldn't have a Guardian that couldn't work with the others, but he wouldn't pass up the young hot head either.

"Hayato-kun."

"Yes, Juudaime?"

"If I gave you an order and Reborn gave you a different one, whose would you follow?"

Tsuna stared into the stunned boys' eyes, before taking a hold of his wrist and felt for his pulse point. He needed to make sure the answer was completely honest.

"Yours Juudaime." His voice was low and sincere, his eyes honest, and his heart rate steady. Hayato hadn't lied.

Tsuna could feel Reborn glaring holes in the back of his head. This was obviously not part of his plan. If Hayato would only follow Tsuna's commands, than he was practically useless to Reborn.

"Then here's your first order, if Reborn ever tells you to do something, tell me first."

Tsuna wasn't going to tell Hayato anything sensitive yet, but his straightforward loyalty would come in handy. It was something he wanted for all of his Guardians, and he was certain he had it from four of his now five.

"Of course." Hayato stole a glance at the seething Reborn. "I am sorry, Reborn-san, but Juudaime is the boss I have been searching for. I cannot betray him now."

Tsuna stood and walked over to the enraged Arcobaleno. He knew this would make its way back to Nono and his father, but he didn't care. They all knew he had secrets now, but they couldn't really do anything about it.

Oh, they could threaten, but with his support from Asami and the fact that he was the only heir available he held all the cards. Tsuna was not going to be used like a last minute placement that couldn't do anything but follow the path set for him.

The sooner Nono, Reborn, and Iemitsu realized he was not a pawn in this game of chess, the better.

"I know you're angry." Reborn's grip on his Leon gun grew tighter. "I know you can teach me all I'll need to know to succeed Nono, and I know you'll do anything to succeed in your job, but I am not a helpless child that will allow you or anyone else dictate his life."

"Your father-"

"My father lost the right to have any say in my life years ago." Even if this was Reborn, the most feared assassin in the mafia world, Tsuna would _never_ back down, never again. "No one controls me."

"Tsuna…"

"No one ever has, and no one ever will." Tsuna turned and began walking away.

"Juudaime?"

Hayato was stunned, he never thought the hapless boy he'd read about would be so strong, so fierce. The thought made a huge grin break out across his face as he jogged to catch up to his new boss. Sawada Tsunayoshi was truly a force to be reckoned with.

"Tsuna!"

Tsuna paused but didn't turn around.

"How much do you know?" Reborn jumped off the fence and stalked forward. "You know all about the Guardians and Vongola. You knew who at least half of your Guardian's would be. You set me up to pick them. You started planning this long before I came here.

"Really? If that's the case…" Tsuna turned to meet Reborn's black eyes. "…prove it."

Reborn was stunned. Tsuna had neither admitted nor denied Reborn's accusation, instead he…

"Oh, and one more thing." Reborn's scowl deepened. "There is one more person suited to be a Guardian, a young baseball player and budding swordsman, Yamamoto Takeshi. I won't accept anyone else to be the calming rain."

_Who the hell is this kid! _"Who are you?"

"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, and I've been taking care of myself for a long time." Tsuna turned and started walking away again, trailed by the strangely silent Hayato. "I respect you and Nono, you're both incredible people and leaders, but if you want anything else from me…" He paused at the roof door. "…you have to earn it."

With that the two teens disappeared back into the school.

Reborn didn't bother trying to follow; he needed to do something before he could confront the boy again. His grip on Leon loosened slightly as the Chameleon turned into a cell phone and he dialed a number he'd long since memorized.

*Ring…ring…ring*

*Click*

'**Sawada here.'**

"**We need to talk."**

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna didn't stop berating himself until he reached Kokuyoland; he just put himself in a very compromising position.

On the way, he'd realized there was a way for the Vongola to get what they wanted from him if they decided he was a potential threat. While he was certain they'd never be able to get their hands on him, the possibility made him regret his hasty actions on the roof. He hadn't betrayed the Vongola, but that doesn't mean his actions couldn't be interpreted as hostile.

_Damn it!_

Hayato trailed behind his boss, quiet and uncertain. The outburst wasn't something he'd expected, but he would not betray his new boss, the first person to ever give a damn about him.

_Where are we? _Hayato wasn't sure he liked the look of this run down place. "Juudaime?"

"I'm going to introduce you to my Mist Guardian."

"Really?" Hayato was excited. He'd promised Juudaime he wouldn't try to get rid of the other Guardians but… "Could I… test his skills?"

Tsuna paused and looked at his _potential_ Storm Guardian. If he or the others were going to work with this hot head, combat would be the best method of bonding.

"He's stronger than you."

"But Juu-"

"They're all stronger than you, right now." Tsuna's was carefully blank. "You have potential and I believe you would make a good Storm Guardian, but we don't know you and you don't know us, not yet."

_Us? You? Am I not… his Guardian yet?"_

"If you are going to be my Guardian, you will have to earn it. You have pledged loyalty to me and I want you to prove it."

The tension was thick enough to cut, but Tsuna needed test Hayato properly before he could allow his Guardians to _bond_.

"What do I have to do?"

KHRKHRKHR

"Tsuna."

Tsuna looked up from his laptop to see Reborn perched on his windowsill.

"I was wondering when you would decide to speak up. You've been standing there for over an hour."

Reborn stiffly jumped down and walked over to his student. This wouldn't be easy but it had to be done.

"I have new orders."

"I figured as much."

"…"

Phone Flashback

'I won't let you hurt my son!'

"And if he's a traitor?"

'… he's still my son.'

"I'll do what I can."

End Flashback

"I'm to continue training you as I have been, but you have fallen under suspicion of being an associate of Asami Ryuuichi." If Reborn wasn't Reborn, he would have not caught the subtle tension in his students' shoulders. "If you are ever deemed to have relations with Asami, I am to immediately take you to Italy, where Nono will decide your fate."

"Tsk… Haha… Hahahahahaha." Tsuna couldn't help it, this whole situation…

"I fail to see what's funny." Hysterical laughter was never a good sign.

"Haha… even if I was *giggle* involved with… haha… Asami…" Tsuna finally managed to calm himself down. "Which I'm not saying I am that doesn't make me a threat to Vongola."

"And why is that?"

"Because Asami is not an enemy of Vongola..."

"But he could be."

"…and I have no intention of allowing the Vongola to fall."

Reborn's eyes widened, he hadn't expected this. His student wasn't saying it directly, but it sounded like he had his own agenda… a plan for when he became Vongola Decimo.

"What are you after?"

*Growl*

Reborn looked to Tsuna door. Akira was walking back and seemed agitated by the atmosphere.

"It's ok, Akira. Come here." Akira jumped on the bed and Tsuna grabbed the brush on his bed side table and started running it through the felines think black coat. "What I'm after…"

Reborn leaned in closer.

"…isn't dangerous to the Vongola, you, Nono, or my father." He said the word father neutrally, but Reborn could detect a hint of malice. "I can't tell you what it is… not yet."

"Who are you?" Reborn repeated the question from earlier.

"I'm someone who just wants to not be afraid."

(A.N. This is a highly emotional and secretive chapter, but suspense is good, right? Please don't kill me for the cliffies. I've made a vital plot decision and I need Reborn and Tsuna at each other's throats for it to work. Okay, now Lambo is the only Guardian still missing, but I refuse to make him a teenager, Lambo is Lambo, and that's all there is to it. Keeping Lambo as a child will play back to an earlier chapter and will be cause for some explosive arguments for sure, but between who? Keep reading as I go deeper and deeper, ja ne.)


	17. BWAHAHAHA! It's Lambosan!

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 17: BWAHAHAHA! It's Lambo-san!

"Is this really necessary?"

"Just answer the question."

"Yeah, yeah, but seriously?" Tsuna sighed as he looked at the various wires and TNT in his room. _Good thing mom took Akira on a walk. _"Are the bombs really necessary?"

"Yes, no answer the first question in the next five seconds…" Reborn held up the green detonator threateningly. "…or I'll blow you up."

*Sight* "It's the square root of two pie over negative 3."

"That is…" Reborn looked like he was _pouting_. "…correct."

*Smirk*

*Glare*

"BWAHAHAHAHA! Bow down before Lambo-san!"

"WTF!"

Reborn and Tsuna turned to see a small cow with an afro… err a child with an afro wearing a cow suit.

"Aha! Reborn! The great hitman Lambo-san has returned!"

"Bovino?"

Reborn glared at Tsuna. While his assessment was undoubtedly correct if the cow suit was any indication, it only further proved Tsuna's prior involvement with the mafia.

"That right! Lambo-san is here to prove-"

"Answer question number two."

"Reborn?"

"10 seconds."

Tsuna sighed and gave a quick once over of the problem.

"Square root of negative one or the imaginary number i."

"Correct."

Lambo watched the scene gaping before he realized he was being ignored and got angry. As a vein throbbed on his forehead, he reached into his afro and pulled out a grenade. A pink grenade.

"Die Reborn!"

Lambo threw the grenade toward the duo, but was thwarted as Reborn kicked it back to Lambo. Tsuna saw what was happening and jumped up to grab the grenade before it could knock Lambo out the window and proceeded to throw it a safe distance away.

*Silence*

No one moved or spoke as Tsuna panted from the sudden rush of adrenaline and Lambo was frozen with the fear of what could have happened to him.

"What… What is wrong with you?" Tsuna tried to keep his voice under control, especially after last night's incident. "He's a child!"

"Well he's only a Bovino." Reborn snorted. "Why should I care about a low level-"

Reborn jumped back as three darts landed where he'd been standing. He just barely held himself back from shooting Tsuna.

"Never, _ever_ hurt try to hurt a child in front of me." Not caring, but knowing he would end up regretting his actions later, Tsuna turned his attention to the terrified Lambo. "Lambo… are you ok?"

Lambo's eye's trembled as he tried unsuccessfully to hold in the tears. When he saw the kind concern in Tsuna's face, the dam broke as he rushed into his open arms.

Tsuna did his best to console the hysterical child, only keeping half of his attention on the assassin behind him. This is one of the things he hated about the mafia; it turned children like Lambo into weapons and then dismissed them for being a part of a lower class family. Just like lambs to the slaughter. Like…

It was like a scaled down version of what happened to the Estraneo children.

"Funny." Tsuna jerked his head up as Reborn started walking toward him. "You dislike the idea of seeing a child in pain, but have no problem attempting to harm me."

Tsuna didn't turn, just continued to try and comfort the still sniffling Lambo.

"Why ask when you know the answer?"

"Did Asami tell you?"

"No."

Reborn's eyes widened, Tsuna never gave a direct answer.

"Does the word Arcobaleno mean anything to you?" It wasn't really a question.

Tsuna didn't answer; instead he stood and walked out of the room with Lambo in his arms.

Reborn didn't even try to stop him.

KHRKHRKHR

"Um… Lambo." Lambo looked up from his bowl of ice cream. "I think Reborn was asleep in that bar."

The look on the five-year-olds face was comical. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open, and ice cream slowly dripping down the spoon and his arm where it stopped half way to his mouth.

"So… Reborn doesn't remember Lambo-san?"

"Probably not."

"Is that why he was so mean?"

"No. That's just how he is."

Lambo's eyes started tearing up again, but before he could really get going the front door opened and closed, announcing his mothers return.

"I'm home, Tsu-kun!"

"I'm in the kitchen mom. We have a guest."

"Really? Who… Oh how cute!"

Tsuna smiled, knowing his mom was probably planning on adopting Lambo as her own. It's what she did with all of his friends.

Akira trotted in after Nana, going to rest his head on Tsuna's lap.

"Hey! Lambo-san isn't cute! Lambo-san is the most handsomest!"

"My, you certainly energetic." Nana walked over and sat in the chair next to Lambo. "Where are you from, Lambo-chan?"

"Lambo-san is from Italy."

"Really? Where are you staying?"

"Staying?" Lambo looked confused.

"Yes, while you're in Japan."

Lambo looked between Nana and Tsuna with wide eyes, as if just realizing something.

"Lambo-san… doesn't…"

Realizing what he meant, Nana took Lambo into her arms and started comforting the crying boy.

"Well you can stay here."

"Really…_sniff_… I can… _sniff_… stay?"

Akira left his position on Tsuna's lap and walked around the table to sit on Lambo's left. Lambo stared at the Jaguar with wide eyes and started trembling.

*Lick* Akira licked Lambo's wet cheek.

"Huh?"

*Purr*

Akira rubbed his large head on the green eyed boy's side, trying to get his attention.

"See Akira likes you, there's no reason you couldn't stay." Nana smiled happily at the cute scene.

Lambo tentatively reached out a hand and started petting Akira lightly. When he got another purr he grinned became bolder as he gave the cat a good scratch behind the ears.

Tsuna smiled as he watched his companion comfort Lambo. As much as he hated it, he realized now was probably the best time for him to talk to Reborn about earlier, so he got up from the table and headed up stairs.

_Attacking Reborn was really stupid._ He knew better, but it never failed to piss him off whenever he saw someone mistreating a child, even one as… interesting as Lambo. _As if Reborn's actually a child. _Tsuna snorted at the idea. _The Arcobaleno have been involved with the mafia world for over twenty years. I mean, Aria is Luce's daughter, can't get more of a clue than that._

Tsuna paused right outside his door and extended his senses, Reborn was still inside. He would have to face the Arcobaleno and get it over with, even if he knew the outcome wouldn't be pretty. Still, he hesitated.

_Alright, breathe. Even if Reborn tries to take me out of the country, Asami will help… If Kyoya-san bothers to try and contact him at all._

With a sigh, Tsuna opened the door and walked inside, noting Leon transforming back into lizard form. _He made a call. _The blank look on Reborn's face didn't do much reassure Tsuna's jumpy nerves. Tsuna was almost certain that after attacking Reborn, Nono would order him dragged to Italy. _I have one trump card, but I don't want to pull it out yet, it might complicate things later if _he_ ever decides to make a reappearance. _Tsuna shut the door, well aware that things could become very complicated from here on out.

"Tsuna." Tsuna didn't answer, just walked over and sat on his bed. "I just got done speaking with Bianchi."

Tsuna's head shot up and he gaped at Reborn. He was expecting Reborn to demand he pack his bags, or just try to drag him off. He was _not_ expecting to hear about his prospective poison's tutor.

"The… I mean, who's Bianchi?"

"Bianchi is an assassin known as the Poison Scorpion, and she will be the one to tutor you in poisons." Reborn smirked. "And she's my fourth lover."

"But I thought-"

"Thought I would drag you to Italy for interrogation." Seeing Tsuna wince, Reborn's smirk grew. "I came here expecting you to lash out a few times."

Tsuna sighed in relief and slumped on his bed.

"That good."

"However," Reborn jumped on the bed next to Tsuna, "Don't think you won't be punished, I'm adding five laps onto your evening jog."

_I should have known._ Tsuna groaned and flopped on his back. _But still…_

"Bianchi isn't the only person you called, is she?"

"…"

"I thought so."

A long stretch of silence passed between them until Tsuna heard the front door open and close. They were alone and free to get loud if necessary.

"Tsuna." Tsuna turned his head to look at Reborn. "The Bovino famiglia is-"

"Don't." He hissed through clenched teeth. "He's a child, if you want a Bovino, find someone older."

"I would, except…" Reborn sat down Indian style. "…it turns out Lambo is the last in the of a special branch of the Bovino famiglia the-"

"The descendents of Lampo." Reborn's head snapped to the side. "I did some checking of my own, into the Vongola and the first generation."

"But how?"

"It doesn't matter, but… you complain about me hiding things." Reborn nodded. "But what about the things you've been hiding."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about Nono's sons, who you conveniently forgot to mention." Tsuna couldn't help but smirk at the sudden tension in Reborn's small form. "Three dead and one missing, not a very good track record."

"It was decided tha-"

"What? That I wouldn't be able to handle the pressure if I knew the only reason I was picked was as a last resort, or that I may be the target of assassins."

"…"

"If it's the latter, than you're too late, I've been fighting for my life for six years and I don't need you or Nono or Iemitsu-"

"Your father."

Tsuna glared at Reborn.

"Right, my _father_…" He spat out the word. "Trying to hide things I already know about."

"But where did you learn about it?"

"Do you realize how big of an idiot I would be if I didn't try to figure out why so many people were trying to kill me?"

"…"

"Exactly."

"Perhaps… it's time you had a talk with Iemitsu."

"I don't want to talk to him." Tsuna sat up. "Maybe I did at one point in time, but I lost interest a long time ago."

"Tsuna…"

"If I… If I really did have a connection…" Reborn's eyes widened. "…and I really only wanted to help people, would that be ok?"

"…"

"I can't go to Italy. Not yet."

"I have to talk to Nono."

"I know."

"Is it Asami?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"…" Tsuna didn't know why he was doing this; he didn't know why he was taking this risk, but it… "…yes."

(A.N. Hohoho. Tsuna admits to working with Asami, but not being Yoshie. So far I've focused Reborn's attention in a way that he probably won't be able to find about Tsuna for a while, but I thought it would be best to admit the connection between Tsuna and Asami now. As I said before, Asami isn't an enemy of the Vongola and doesn't really pose a threat to the family because he's not interested in encroaching on Italy. I won't tell what Reborn will do with this new info, but it's going to get juicy. I only have five more of the main cast to introduce and I've finally figured out how to work Chrome in. Don't worry, she will not replace Mukuro, but she will still have her natural talent for illusions. Anyway thanks for all of the review and please continue to send in more. I recently reached 20,000 hits and I'm getting really excited every time I submit a new chapter. Ja ne.)


	18. A Confession and a Test

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 18: A Confession and a Test

"…yes."

The admission was followed by a tense silence that blanketed the small bedroom. Neither of the occupants moved as they processed the situation.

_Ok… this isn't too bad, but… how am I supposed to explain what Asami gets out of the deal?_

"What does Asami get out of the deal?"

_Damn it._

Tsuna ran a hand through his fluffy hair as he tried to think of something, anything, that wouldn't lead Reborn back to Yoshie, but the only thing he could think of was…

"…Kyoya-san."

"What?"

Tsuna got up and walked over to his dresser and pulled out his Disciplinary Committee arm band.

"Shortly after we started the Disciplinary Committee, Kyoya-san got to work cleaning up Namimori of all local yakuza." Tsuna handed Reborn the red arm band. "While it was small, Asami did have a small outfit here, and he Kyoya-san as an annoyance. So, he looked into possible weaknesses he could use against Kyoya-san and found me." Reborn inhaled sharply through his nose. "He wasn't expecting me to be able to kick his body guards' asses, though." Tsuna smiled fondly at _that_ memory.

Flashback

Ten-year-old Tsuna was checking out some storage units the Disciplinary Committee may be able to use, when a big blonde man made an attempt to grab him from behind.

Before the thug could get a good hold of him, Tsuna twisted to fall back into a back hand spring, launching his small body backward. He used the surprise to leap into the air and kick the blonde in the nose, feeling very satisfied when he heard the crunch of the cartilage giving way. He used the blonds face as a spring to jump back and land gracefully on the ground.

Tsuna knew he wasn't done yet when another big man, this one with dark hair and glasses, tried to make a grab for him. Tsuna turned so that he could grip the much bigger arm with his two small ones and slam his knee upwards. He'd planned to repeat the process as long as it was necessary, but let go after the first blow when he heard the tell tale crack of a bone breaking.

End Flashback

"They didn't know who I was then, but it didn't take long for Asami to connect the dots." Tsuna smirked. _Well, it's not _technically_ a lie. _"It didn't take Asami long to figure out that, while we were still kids, the Disciplinary Committee could turn into a real thorn in his side if he didn't make a deal with us. We ended up agreeing that he would give us information on the mafia and we would allow him to operate on the boarders of Namimori, but never within."

"A product of convenience then."

"Yeah." _I may have fibbed a little bit, but… _"I _did_ learn some stuff on my own by going through Kyoya-san's fathers' old files and a few carefully worded web searches…" _And_ _hacking into Vongola's mainframe on multiple occasions._ "… but Asami's been giving us a lot information on you, the Vongola, or the mafia in general."

"I see…"

"Look." Tsuna gave Reborn a hard look. "I haven't done anything to be a threat to the Vongola, I've just been trying to make it so…"

"So what?"

"So…" Tsuna looked down and bit his lip. "…so kids like me don't have to exist."

Reborn's eyes widened. He'd know Tsuna felt bitter about all of the attempts on his life, so this should be that surprising. But somehow, hearing the boy admit he just wanted to help other kids was… Reborn tried to fight it, but he couldn't help but feel relieved he might not have to do anything to Tsuna.

But there was still one question gnawing at the back of his mind.

"Tsuna."

"Yeah?"

"Did Asami ever tell you about someone named Yoshie?"

Tsuna was really glad he hadn't been drinking something, or he may have spit it out. He tried to calm his features, but he knew Reborn had seen the reaction. It didn't take much deductive power to realize Tsuna recognized the name of one of the greatest hackers in mafia history, in the world history.

"Only… a few times." Tsuna sighed; he couldn't let Reborn start thinking Yoshie worked for Asami. "He said Yoshie contacted him a few times. He said it had something to do why he didn't contact the DC for a few weeks a couple of years ago."

"Estraneo…"

"The science mafia famiglia?"

"Did Asami tell you what happened?"

"No, he just said Yoshie told him about a mafia criminal group being in Japan."

_Damn, it feels weird to talk in third person. Well, at least Reborn's buying it._

Reborn's face was contemplative, as if he was trying to recall something. Tsuna and Asami had thought it be best if Yoshie's involvement in locating the Estraneo bunker be common knowledge. Yoshie already had a reputation for doing things like that with other mafia famiglia's, so no one really questioned why Yoshie would contact Asami about it.

"Hmmm… that did happen about two years ago." Tsuna held in the sigh of relief that wanted to be let out. "Yoshie has gained a reputation as quite the phantom helper of the mafia, but…" Tsuna gulped slightly. "… no one knows who he is or what his motives are. I hear event the Vendici is interested in finding out who he is."

"Really?" Tsuna winced. "I heard the Vendici was only interested in criminals."

"Normally, yes, but I think the Vendici is out to recruit Yoshie."

"Oh… Well as interesting as all of this is, shouldn't we talk about what we're going to do."

Tsuna knew he had to change the subject, but he couldn't help but want to smack himself in the forehead for such an obvious attempt.

Very obvious of Reborn's expression was anything to go by.

"Yes… I suppose we should."

"Great… about Bianchi…"

"She'll be here tomorrow."

"Ok- wait? What? I thought you said she wouldn't be here until the end of the week?"

"I thought it would, but it seems she really wanted to come to Japan." Reborn smirked. "Perhaps she missed me."

"Didn't you dump her?"

"Yes."

"You're cruel, you know that?"

"Of course, but on to other business." Tsuna sighed; Reborn was a tough nut to crack. "I also invited Dino Cavallone and Dr. Shamal; I believe they will be helpful."

"But isn't Shamal…"

"Yes."

"How would that be helpful?"

"You'll see."

*Sigh*

KHRKHRKHRKHR

Tsuna knew Bianchi had a reputation for being eccentric (what Mafioso didn't), but this was just ridiculous. It wasn't even lunch time and Bianchi had already tried to kill him three times.

Poison in his soda.

Poison in his gum.

Poison in his tic tacs.

Tsuna was quite fond of all his little vices, but had to throw out all three when he opened them to find poison few slowly drifting out. Oh yeah, he was starting to feel irritated.

He hadn't told his Guardians of the new development yet, thinking it would probably be better not to get the riled up about what was either a test or the wrath of a jealous ex. It was especially important that he not tell Hayato yet, lest the boy puke on him.

The mafia didn't really allow for healthy family relationships.

It was one of the reason's Tsuna was willing to give the dog like boy a chance. Tsuna could understand how it felt to be detached from your father because of his relationship to your mother.

Yeah, mafia famiglia's may be strong, but mafia families were not.

*Ding-dong*

At the sound of the bell, Tsuna sighed and stood up. He knew his carefully prepared lunch had probably ended up destroyed by the Poison Scorpion's deadly touch.

"Are you alright, Juudaime?"

Tsuna turned to see Hayato's concerned green eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tsuna smiled when the bombers eyebrows creased. "Reborn just kept me up late last night."

Luckily, Hayato bought the weak excuse and let it go.

"Hey, Tsuna, lets hurry so we can eat on the roof." Called Takeshi.

"Che… damn baseball freak."

"Hayato…"

"Forgive me, Juudaime."

Tsuna sighed, he couldn't say no to that kicked dog expression.

KHRKHRKHR

On the roof of a tall building next to Namimori, a beautiful pink haired woman with green eyes was spying on the trio.

"You know…" The woman jumped slightly at the unexpected voice, before she relaxed when she realized who it was. "… the repercussions for killing the only heir left would be pretty steep."

"I know." She sighed. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't wasting your time with a hopeless loser."

"Tsuna is anything but." Reborn watched as his student walked onto the roof and stared at the place he and the woman were hiding. "He wouldn't know we were here if he was."

"I noticed that."

"How long are you planning on doing this?"

"I'll introduce myself after lunch."

"You mean if he's still alive."

"Of course."

The two continued to watch the trio in silence, waiting to see what would be the outcome of the woman's test. They waited as Tsuna opened up his bento and sighed. Reborn wasn't surprised to see the fluffy haired boy just get up and throw the contents away.

"Satisfied?"

"I suppose he's not that hopeless, he did manage to find all of my poison cooking."

"Bianchi…" Reborn waited until Bianchi was looking at him to continue. "… perhaps we should wait until Tsuna goes home for you to introduce yourself."

"Why do you say that?"

"You know why."

"Hayato?"

"While I'm sure it would be entertaining to see if he still faints at the sight of you, it probably won't make the best first impression on Tsuna."

"That boy…" Bianchi sighed. "Doesn't he realize how insulting it is to get sick at the sight of a beautiful woman's face?"

"With the goo goo eye's he's been making at Yamamoto's backside, I doubt it."

"The jock he keeps insulting?"

"Most young boys try to show girls they like them by picking on them."

"Heh… I suppose that would be Hayato's style- Wait? What's that?"

Bianchi and Reborn focused on the scene on the school roof top to see a small figure in a Chinese threatening the three boys. A closer look revealed the figure to be a small child with a rope like ponytail being its only hair. It was a figure they both recognized.

"Is that…"

"I believe so."

"I suppose this could make for a good test."

"No."

"No?"

"Tsuna won't fight or harm a child, under any circumstances, nor will he allow anyone else to do so."

"That could be a problem."

"Indeed."

(A.N. Bianchi and I-pin in the same chapter, yay. All that's left for the main cast is Dino, Shamal, and Fuuta. I know how I'm going to introduce them, so don't worry. I calmed down the drama for this chapter, but don't let that fool you, pretty soon things will start to heat up again, after all, we must not forget that we have several points of conflict still boiling underneath the surface. This chapter was more for relaxing things between Reborn and Tsuna enough to give Tsuna some room to do things with slightly less scrutiny. Reborn thinks he now knows what Tsuna's been hiding and didn't even realize he brought up the biggest secret lol. Anyway, someone complained I don't update fast enough… I update once a day! I think that's plenty fast enough. Whatever. Well I'll probably have chapter 19 up tomorrow, ja ne.)


	19. Mukuro brings home a new friend

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

"Normal"

_Thought_

"**Italian"**

**Thought**

"_**Chinese"**_

_**Thought**_

Chapter 19: Mukuro brings home a new friend

_Shit._ Was the first thought that came to mind when Tsuna realized Fon's student was out to kill him.

"I-Pin find you. You die now."

"Che. I'll show you…" Hayato pulled out several sticks of dynamite.

"Stop."

"But Juudaime…?"

"Are you questioning me?"

"No! I…"

"Hayato." I-Pin didn't move as the two talked. "I don't hurt children."

I-Pin scowled and pulled out… a dumpling?

"I-Pin no child. I-Pin assassin."

I-Pin released a deep breath as she worked to manipulate the air, trying to use the hypnotic affects of the garlic. Tsuna, however, was familiar with the style of Gyoza-ken from all the time he spent research the Arcobaleno, and just pulled out a gas masks for his Guardian's and himself.

I-Pin started sweating when she realized she wouldn't be able to take control of any of them. She couldn't disappoint her master, not when he finally trusted her with a mission.

"_**Why are you after me, I-Pin?"**_

I-Pin was startled to hear her target speak Chinese. Her file said he could only speak Japanese and English.

"_**I-Pin's master said you had to die. I-Pin will not fail her master."**_

"_**Are you sure? I heard you're nearsighted."**_

I-Pin didn't relax her fighting stance as she studied the blurry figure in front of her.

"_**How do you know I-Pin has bad eyes?"**_

"_**I know a lot about the Arcobaleno and their students." **_I-Pin's form tensed._** "I'm Reborn's student, after all."**_

I-Pin's stance faltered as she realized _who_ she was threatening. This was Reborn's new student. This was Vongola Decimo.

**I-Pin has shamed Master.**

Seeing I-Pin get out of the fighting stance, Tsuna smiled and removed his gas mask, but the smile was soon replaced by horror.

Nine Pinzu decorated the Chinese girls' forehead.

"Ha ha. What's with the weird mark on the kids head?"

"Takeshi."

Takeshi froze when he heard the tone in Tsuna's voice.

"What is it?" Time to get serious.

"I need you and Hayato to get off the roof." Tsuna watched as the number decreased to six pinzu. "I'll meet up with you later, ok."

"Juu-"

"Now!"

Takeshi and Hayato looked at each other uncertainly. They'd sworn to follow Tsuna's orders but this…

"I understand, Boss."

Takeshi gabbed Hayato's arm and pulled the other boy back into the school.

Tsuna watched as his Guardian's went through the door and left him alone with I-Pin and sighed. He walked closer as the pinzu got down to four.

"_**I-Pin…"**_

Three.

"_**It's going to be alright."**_

Two.

"_**I'll get you some contacts for you, ok."**_

One.

Tsuna launched his hand at the girl and jabbed his index finger into the pinzu. After a few seconds, the symbol harmlessly faded away, leaving behind a confused I-Pin.

"_**See." **_Tsuna smiled at her bewildered expression. _**"I told you everything would be alright."**_

I-Pin was stunned when she finally realized she didn't blow up. Her skin wasn't burned and she didn't have any bruises from being thrown into the air. No one else had ever done that except…

"_**Master…"**_

"_**He thought I might need it someday." **_Tsuna whispered into her nonexistent ear. _**"But don't tell anyone I know how to do that, just say it was a happy accident."**_

"_**I-Pin understands. I-Pin is in Vongola-san's debt."**_

"_**One thing I-Pin…"**_

"_**Yes?"**_

"_**Just call me Tsuna or Tsuna-san if it makes you feel better."**_

KHRKHRKHR

"So… you just happened to poke her in the forehead at the right moment?"

"Right."

"Tsuna…" Reborn sighed as he enjoyed the homemade espresso Tsuna put together. "I thought we were past the secrets."

"Like you don't have secrets." Tsuna mumbled as he sipped his green tea.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"When's the food gonna be done, peon?"

Since it was Wednesday, he and Reborn had gone to Kokuyoland after dropping I-Pin off with Nana and Lambo.

"Since you insisted I make turkey…" Tsuna gave the animalistic boy a half glare. "…it'll take another twenty minutes to be ready."

"But-" Ken started to protest.

"Just be glad it wasn't frozen, or else it would probably take another four hours."

Ken closed his mouth and pouted.

"You know." Reborn spoke up while looking at the spread. "Turkey, mashed potatoes, baked Mac & cheese, and deviled eggs makes this look a lot like an American Thanksgiving."

"Well that's what I was going for when I got the Turkey."

"You make a lot of western food for a native Japanese kid."

"Heh… maybe it's that Italian blood in me."

Reborn smirked. Tsuna didn't have any problems acknowledging his ancestry, even if he wasn't too fond of his father.

"Well, Giotto was known to be fond of roasted turkey."

"Stop talking about food, peon. I'm hungry enough as it is, peon!"

"Ken… you're being too noisy again."

"Hey! Kaki-pi you-" Ken was cut off by the door leading into the living area being slammed open.

On the other side of the door was a panting and haggard looking Mukuro and an unconscious girl in a hospital gown.

"Mukuro!"

"Tsunayoshi-kun… she needs help."

See the girl Tsuna immediately went into leader mode and directed Mukuro to lay her on the couch so he could look her over.

"Who is she?"

"She's a girl that was left to die by her parents."

Tsuna just nodded, it was a sad but common thing for young people who are injured to be left to die when no one could pay the bill. Even worse, pretty young girls like this one were even more likely to be dumped.

Tsuna gave the girl a once over and found several major injuries associated with a car accident, but everything was bandaged up professionally.

"It seems like her injuries were treated and she doesn't have any bruising to indicate internal bleeding, are you sure she was abandoned?"

"Yeah." Mukuro looked at the girls face and grimaced. "She was given the standard care, but her organs were too damaged… her parents said it would be better to just let her die than let the doctors' search for any potential organ donors." His fists clenched. "They didn't even bother trying, said they could just have another child later on."

"Her organs…" Tsuna glance at the girls' perfectly normal looking abdomen.

"I used my illusions to create organs for her." Seeing Tsuna's confused expression, he elaborated. "She's been coming into my dreams lately. Apparently her natural talent for illusions called out to me while she was unconscious in the hospital. That's how she told me what was happening. I wouldn't normally be able to do this, but because she already has a natural aptitude for illusions…"

"… you were able to draw on some of her powers to make the illusionary organs more acceptable to her body.

No one had noticed Reborn studying both Mukuro's uncovered right eye and the situation in front of him. He could understand what was going on with the girl, Viper had told him sometimes young illusionists subconsciously call out to more powerful ones when their in distress, but the eye…

"That's… right."

Mukuro watched Reborn warily. Both he and Tsuna had been worried about one of the remaining Estraneo scientists knowing about the human experiments, even if all of Yoshie's checks had turned up nothing.

"I know a doctor that will be able to help her recover and even put her on the transplant list." Leon turned into a cell phone. "The Vongola will pick up the bill."

"Reborn?"

"Because Mukuro let her in his mind for what I believe to be an extended period of time…" Mukuro nodded. "… there's a possibility that the two have formed a psychic bond."

Mukuro's eyes widened. He hadn't considered the consequences of allowing an injured girl in.

"I was just-"

"I realize that." Reborn gave Mukuro a sharp look. "But her forming a bond with you, one of Tsuna's Guardians, has put your life or sanity at risk should she die while your illusions are still in place because the illusions create a physical link for the bond to adhere to. Should her organs be transplanted, you'll be able to gradually dissipate the bond."

Mukuro nodded, he knew he couldn't let the girl die simply because he didn't like the idea of being psychically linked to someone on such an intimate level. He shuddered, that sounded like something that should be reserved for lovers.

"Ummm…" Everyone turned toward a now blushing Tsuna. "It's just… isn't Shamal the best?"

"Yes."

"But he's… I mean… wouldn't he be…"

"Yes."

"Then we can't let him near her! That isn't right!" Tsuna shouted indignantly, ignoring the surprised and confused face of the other three teens.

"Regardless of how you feel, or anyone else, Shamal is the best doctor in the world… even with his quirks."

"Quirks? Quirks! Being a pervert does not qualify him for the honorable title of quirky!"

"What?"

Tsuna and Reborn turned to see a seething Mukuro. In the last couple of days, he'd become quite fond of the young girl, so to hear the doctor Reborn suggested was a pervert…

"I will not let _any_ pervert touch Nagi!"

"You don't have much choice."

"And why not?"

"Because Shamal is a mafia doctor, so he won't question a missing girl needing treatment and, as I said before, he is the best and will be able to perform all treatment the girl, Nagi, needs." Reborn saw the boys getting ready to protest again. "That includes the life threatening surgery that would need to take place, which I'm sure you would only want the best to perform. Am I wrong?"

Tsuna and Mukuro looked at each other, uncertain. As much as they wanted to help Nagi, the idea of letting a known pervert touch the wounded girl was… and Tsuna didn't even know her like Mukuro seemed to.

"Fine, but I will be watching his every move."

Mukuro's voice left no room for argument and Tsuna nodded his head in agreement. If Shamal was going to get anywhere near the admittedly cute girl, he was going to have to be under constant supervision so he didn't do anything weird to her.

"That'll be fine, as long as none of you mind the sight of blood." Seeing them tense, Reborn elaborate. "In order to perform the transplant, Shamal is going to have to cut her open. It _is_ a highly invasive surgery after all."

Even though Tsuna knew what Reborn meant from the beginning, it was still reassuring to hear him say what he meant out loud.

"You said he was already on his way here yesterday, didn't you."

"Ah."

"So it shouldn't take him too long to make his way to Japan."

"He should be here by the end of the week."

"Like Bianchi was supposed to be?"

"He may show up earlier."

Tsuna sighed; things would be so much easier if he had more free time. Then he would know exactly who was coming to Japan and when. It was never fun to be going into a situation blind when you were so used to knowing everything that was going on.

"You know." Tsuna looked up to see Reborn's thoughtful face. "You seem to have a habit of attracting strays, Tsuna."

Tsuna just groaned.

(A.N. And here is Chrome-chan. I like her character because she gave a way to bring Mukuro back into KHR, but in this fic she's more of a support character that helps out. MUKURO is the mist Guardian, NOT Chrome. Of course I had Mukuro save her from the parents, who did in fact leave her for dead in the manga and anime, it's a part of the plot that is essential to Chrome and Mukuro ever meeting and Chrome being brought into the fold. Well, anyway we don't have too many more people to introduce from the primary cast. As it stands, we're down to Dino, Shamal, Fuuta, and Haru. Next time we meet Haru and Fuuta, so stay tuned, ja ne.)


	20. Nice day out… sort of

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 20: Nice day out… sort of

*Knock… knock…*

"Tsuna-san! Haru has a surprise!"

Tsuna groaned when he realized his stalker… err _friend_ had decided it was a good idea to stop by… while he still had blood on his shirt.

"It's open!"

Haru, after stalking him for months, found out he was involved in some form of crime a couple of years ago. Tsuna had decided it wasn't worth the stress and admitted to being the only child of a Mafioso. Surprisingly, rather than scaring her off, she fell in love with him.

He was just glad she'd been on vacation with her parents while he was integrating Reborn into his life.

Haru walked into Tsuna's room just as he pulled off his soiled school shirt and was preparing to put on a clean orange hoodie.

"Tsu-Tsuna-san!"

Haru covered her face with her hands and tried to hide her burning face. Even if Tsuna wasn't interested in Haru, he still could help but smirk when he noticed her trying to sneak looks through her fingers.

"You needed something Haru?" Tsuna finished putting on the hoodie.

"O-oh yeah! There was a little boy looking for you."

"Lambo?"

Tsuna walked closer to the door and realized a weak presence was hiding just out of site. It was small and no one he recognized. It felt like a child, a young child.

"No, he said his name was Fuuta."

Tsuna nearly choked on his tongue when a small head of light brown/blonde hair and honey eyes peaked from around the door. There was no mistaking it, the kid was…

"Ranking Fuuta?"

"That's right, Sawada-san."

Tsuna looked the small boy up and down. He knew all about the boys' strange ability to rank even the most abstract skills. Fuuta had no mafia family he was associated with; he was an orphan that was picked up by Tomaso famiglia when someone noticed the strange air around him. Once they figured out what he could do, Fuuta had been locked in a room with a pen and a lot of paper, told to rank anything and everything on the mafia.

Although he never claimed responsibility for it, Tsuna had been the one to go in and remotely unlock the Fuuta's door and helped him go from safe house to safe house. He'd been prepared to take care of Fuuta, but he hadn't expected Fuuta to show up at his house before he could direct him to it.

"How…"

Tsuna smacked himself in his forehead when Fuuta showed him the large red leather bound book that housed his rankings. Of course Fuuta would be able to find the real names of the top ranked hackers in the world.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi ranked number one in the world as a hacker and number one mafia boss most likely to…" Fuuta bit his lip and shifted from one foot to the other while Haru just stood there looking confuse. "… most likely to help a child who needs it."

Tsuna walked over and patted the fidgeting boy on the shoulder before he turned his attention to Haru.

"Can you leave us alone, Haru?"

"Yeah… I'll see you tomorrow." Haru hesitated at the door.

"Yeah." Tsuna said as he gave her a small smile.

Once they were alone, Tsuna turned his attention back to Fuuta. He was understandably nervous and Tsuna didn't want to spook him.

"I have a couple of other kids living here. They're all related to the mafia in some way."

Fuuta's head shot up and his eyes widened, a little bit of hope and fear bleeding into the honey depths.

"How- how old?"

"I-Pin and Lambo are both five-years-old." Fuuta looked excited. "Reborn's here too, but he doesn't really count."

"Reborn… ranks number one for most talented assassin."

While the words should have probably been spoken fearfully, Fuuta actually sounded relieved. Tsuna could only assume it was because most people wouldn't be stupid enough to challenge a Vongola heir _and_ Reborn.

Thinking about it, Tsuna froze for a second. Fuuta knew who he was and what he did. If he let it slip to Reborn…

"Listen, Fuuta."

Fuuta heard the serious tone in Tsuna's voice and instantly got nervous; he was hoping Tsuna didn't send him away.

"You can't tell Reborn about my being Yoshie."

"I know…" Tsuna sighed in relief. "Yoshie's identity is the fourth best kept secret in the world and if it's in the top five, I can't tell anyone who doesn't already know the truth."

_Only fourth huh?_ "Do I know any of the other top five?"

"You know them all."

"Sweet."

KHRKHRKHR

It had taken all of five seconds for Lambo, I-Pin, Akira (Akira has a soft spot for little kids), and Nana to fall in love with Fuuta, who would now be living with the six of them.

The house was a fairly nice size, but since it only had three bedrooms, Tsuna and Nana decided it was time to look into a bigger house with more open space for Akira. Nana had been a little reluctant at first, not wanting to leave the house she and Iemitsu had bought years ago, but eventually conceded that there was no choice with how many people were living in the house.

So on Sunday, Nana took the kid's and Reborn out to look at houses, while Tsuna spent some quality time with his newest Guardian, getting to know him better is what Reborn had said.

"Where do you want to go, Juudaime?"

"Hmmm…" Tsuna looked around the shopping district, trying to find something interesting to do. "We could go to the arcade and get something to eat later… I also wanted to check out the electronics store for a new part I ordered…" Tsuna had to stifle a laugh when he saw Hayato taking notes. "How about you, Hayato? Is there anything you want to do today?"

Hayato's eyes widened as he stopped taking notes.

"I wouldn't want to interfere with what you want, Juudaime!"

"You wouldn't be." Tsuna assured puppy eyed boy. "We'll have plenty of time to do a lot of things, and besides…" Tsuna smiled as Hayato relaxed a little. "…I'm supposed to be getting to know you better, right?"

"R-right, of course." Hayato swallowed and took a deep breath. "I would be honored if Juudaime and I could see a movie together… or maybe we could go shopping." Hayato blushed. "I-I mean… not in a girly way, we just could… get some stuff we need?

Tsuna tried, he really did, but he could help the chuckle that escaped at Hayato's attempt. Seeing the bomber boy look even more distraught, Tsuna thought it was time to calm the boy down.

"That'd be fun, besides, guys can like getting new stuff too, and you don't have to be a girl to have fun." Tsuna gave Hayato a mischievous wink. "Besides, we just have to buy guy stuff and no one will care, but wouldn't it be fun…" Tsuna quieted down and leaned in to whisper in Hayato's ear. "… to mess with some people and buy something really girly. I'll just give it to my mom later."

Hayato looked at Tsuna with wide eyes before he started laughing. Even if it wasn't his ideal day off, Tsuna could help but enjoy the day and the company. Hayato was actually a pretty good friend when he didn't let his temper get the better of him.

"Haha… Juu-Juudaime… I didn't… haha… know…" Hayato struggled to get control of himself, but it took a few minutes to do so. "I didn't know Juudaime had such a good sense of humor! I would be honored to have such a day with Juudaime."

_You know… I think I may really end up liking this one. He's really not that bad._ Tsuna thought as Hayato excitedly looked for a map of the area, so they could find all of the best spots. _I think he forgot how familiar with the area I am._

The two did have a good time. Going from the arcade to the electronics store, and grabbing a bite to eat before heading over to this Goth store Hayato thought looked pretty interesting.

"How about this, Juudaime?"

Tsuna looked up to see Hayato holding up a zipper less orange hoodie. What made it interesting was the black skull and crossbones with an orange twenty-seven carved into the forehead that decorated the middle of the hoodie.

_Thing is… I think mom and Haru would enjoy seeing me in stuff like this._

Tsuna never really cared what he wore, so long as it was comfortable, but he liked the hoodie. It was interesting and not overly dramatic.

"I like it." Tsuna told Hayato with a smile, but decided to continue before the bomber got too excited. "Let's keep looking; we still have an hour until "The Hunger Games" starts.

Tsuna got the hoodie Hayato showed him, a navy blue t-shirt that had an evil looking purple pumpkin on it, two black laptop cases, one with a white "^-^" symbol and the other with a white fox, and a red t-shirt with a graveyard on it and "shinigami" printed underneath in black lettering. He also got some stuff for the kids and Nana, because he thought they might like it. He got a purple hoodie that had a robot like teddy bear on it for Nana, a light blue t-shirt styled dress with a punk rocker looking bunny on it for I-Pin, a black messenger bag with a white skull cupcake design that said "despair cupcakes" for Fuuta, and a grey t-shirt with white long sleeves that had a ninja fox carrying a box of pocky and "pocky ninja" written in white for Lambo.

Hayato ended up getting a grey t-shirt that said "bite me" in white print, a black long sleeved shirt with "I lose control" in red lettering, and red hoodie that matched Tsuna's, only the number on the forehead was 59.

"That was great Juudaime." Gokudera said with a happy smile as they left the store, Hayato carrying the bags (he insisted, no matter how many times Tsuna tried to say no). "Maybe…" Hayato blushed. "Maybe we… could do this again?"

"Sure." Tsuna gave Hayato a reassuring smile. "Maybe we should invite some of the other Guardian's or the kids next time."

Hayato looked a little disappointed, but Tsuna wasn't going to take it back. Hayato had to get to know the other's better if he was ever going to be a full part of the family Tsuna had been working on.

Tsuna looked at his watch and gasped.

"Oh! The movie starts in twenty minutes, Hayato! We should get to the theater if we want good seats."

With that the two headed to the theater in companionable silence… until the roof next to the theater blew up and two figures went flying by.

"What…" Tsuna started.

"The…" Hayato followed.

"Fuck!" They finished together.

Tsuna watched in horror as he realized who the two figures were.

One appeared to be in his mid twenties and had long silver hair that hung loosely, gracefully framing an attractive face, grey eyes, and a shark like smile. Superbi Squalo of the Varia.

The other was much younger, about the same age as Tsuna, and had short blonde hair that fell over his face and almost covered his right eye. The other eye was reveled to be a deep blue, set on a cute face that was twisted into a scowl. The blue dying will flame on his forehead confirmed the boy to be Basil of the CEDEF. Tsuna only cursed his luck more when he realized Basil was holding a box with the Vongola crest on it.

_The Vongola half-rings! _Tsuna saw Hayato put the bags down out of the corner of his eye; Hayato's gaze was also fixed on the Vongola symbol. _So he noticed it to._

"Hayato."

Hayato had just started pulling out his dynamite when Tsuna's voice stopped him.

"Yes, Juudaime?"

"I'll handle this."

"But Juu-"

"Hayato!" Hayato stopped. "I don't know if you're ready for an opponent of his caliber yet. I want you to just watch, alright."

Hayato looked at his boss in surprise. From the sound of it he was going to get a demonstration of Juudaime's true power.

"If that is your order, Boss." Hayato complied and backed down.

During the conversation, Squalo had managed to knock down Basil and was making a grab for the box, but was stopped when a black and silver gloved hand grabbed his wrist.

Squalo jerked back in surprise, only to see a pair of glowing orange eyes and an orange dying will flame on a young boy's forehead. A quick glance back at the gloves told him all he needed to know and he grinned.

"Voi! So you're the trash that's trying to take the position of Vongola Decimo!"

Tsuna ignored the loud man and bent down to check Basil and the box. As he suspected, Basil was just unconscious with minor injuries.

"VOI!"

Tsuna turned back to the noisy swords man and jumped into the air to keep from being impaled, landing on the raised side of the blade. The move stunned Squalo enough for Tsuna to land a decent round house kick in his face, sending Squalo flying, before Tsuna landed back in front of Basil and picked up the rings.

"You want these?" Tsuna said in an almost disturbingly blank voice.

Tsuna was completely calm, almost as if one of the best assassins in the world wasn't threatening him.

"Voi! What do you think brat!"

"Here." Tsuna casually tossed the swordsman the box. "I don't want them."

Tsuna shot Hayato a look, to prevent the rash boy from saying anything.

"Voi…" Squalo was confused at the sudden turn of events, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "I guess you really are just a normal kid."

With that he was gone.

"Juudaime…?"

"Don't worry." The dying will flame burned out and he returned to his normal state. "The rings he took were fakes."

"Fakes!"

"That's right."

Tsuna and Hayato jumped at the new voice. They turned to see a handsome blonde man wearing a fur lined jacket walking toward them.

"Who are you?"

After what just happened, Hayato wasn't taking any chances.

"Relax." The blonde raised his hands in surrender. "My name is Dino, Dino Cavallone."

(A.N. So how's that. I know some people may be mad I'm at this now, but I had every intention from the beginning of the story to introduce Shamal and Dino, officially, after I brought in Squalo. I only sped things up a little bit, in cannon Reborn's with Tsuna for about two or three months before Squalo shows up. Oh, if anyone's interested in that stuff from earlier, everything but Tsuna and Gokudera's special number hoodies are available in various colors on , that place is amazing and it has more than just gothic type stuff. Anyway, the drama continues next time, ja ne.)


	21. Out of Time, Need to Pick

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 21: Out of Time, Need to Pick

"Relax." The blonde raised his "My name is Dino, Dino Cavallone."

"The Bucking Bronco, correct?" Tsuna's voice was still a bit eerie; the affects of being in hyper dying will mode had yet to wear off. "Did Iemitsu send you with the real rings?"

Dino was taken aback by the knowledge the supposedly clueless boy had. He wasn't supposed to even know about the rings, let alone be able to tell the fakes from the real ones. Dino knew he had to speak with Reborn soon.

"Yeah…" He said uncertainly as he reached into his satchel. "It's only the External Adviser's half though, Nono's half is…"

"In the Varia's hands."

"How do…"

Once again Dino was taken aback by the oddity known as Sawada Tsunayoshi. While the fluffy haired boys' voice had regained a semblance of normalcy, no longer sounding toneless, it was still clipped and serious in a way Dino hadn't expected. If anything, Dino expected Tsuna to be more like him.

"I… can feel the flames."

"Nono and Iemitsu… never said anything about that…"

Dino studied the pair of boys in front of him more closely.

Tsuna fit the physical description he'd been given, but his personality was the complete opposite of everything Iemitsu had ever told him. Tsuna was rational and calm under high amounts of stress and had no problem handling himself in a fight. The access to the dying will flames could be excused as being a result of Reborn's training, but he shouldn't be advanced enough yet to access them at will, without a dying will bullet.

Hayato had been described as being rash, but incredibly loyal to Tsuna. He could see the loyalty and the desire for action, but it was tempered by Tsuna's charisma and no nonsense attitude, something that didn't really fit the boys' personality.

"Dino-san?"

Dino snapped out of his musings and gave Tsuna a sheepish smile. This was no time to be assessing his underclassmen (Dino-sempai, lol). Dino walked forward, ring box in hand.

"With these you will be officially known as the heir to Vongola."

Tsuna opened the box and examined the contents carefully. The rings were indeed the real deal.

Having confirmed that, Tsuna took out the ring with half of the Storm symbol and handed it to Hayato without so much as a glance at the ecstatic bomber. Tsuna focused his attention on the only ring to contain a stone. He had the right side part of the ring, with the blue stone being decorated with "Von" and half of the "g."

Tsuna quietly handed Dino back the box as he slipped the ring on his middle finger. It was a little loose, but Tsuna had fairly small hands for a boy. The fact that it wasn't overly big spoke of Primo's own small, but powerful hands.

It wouldn't fit Xanxus too well; Xanxus' hands would be big enough that it would be a tight fit.

"When did Xanxus return?"

Dino jumped when Tsuna suddenly spoke, he had also been in groused by the sight of the two boys placing the rings on their fingers.

"You-"

"Reborn and I have already been over… my surprising amount of knowledge."

Dino just nodded and accepted the answer… for now. He really needed to talk to Reborn and Iemitsu about this.

"Not long ago. When he did… Nono decided to make Xanxus his heir."

_What?_ Tsuna's eye's narrowed. _Mafia law says you have to be a blood relative of the previous leader to inherit the position of boss. _He looked back down at the ring on his middle finger. _I'm almost certain a completed Vongola Sky ring would reject anyone who isn't somehow related to Primo or his nephew, Secondo._

"That's ridiculous! Nono already choose Juudaime as his heir, the rings should prove it!"

"Gokudera-san…" Dino sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Nono has every right to choose his son, however…" Dino stopped Hayato before he could protest. "Tsuna's father, who is the Vongola External Adviser, also has the right to pick an heir." Both Tsuna and Hayato could see the stress in the young mafia bosses eyes. "This is the first time the Boss and the External adviser have ever disputed the others choice, so it is likely the rings will be split between both heirs until the matter can be resolved."

"That's correct."

All three turned to see Reborn walking toward them, with a horde of black suited men behind him.

"Boss… you should know better than to go anywhere without us." Said one of the older men.

"You worry too much, Romario."

The man identified as Romario just sighed. Tsuna could see that Dino did this sort of thing a lot.

"Tsuna."

Tsuna turned his attention back to the Sun Arcobaleno.

"Reborn… Squalo… how long do you think it'll take them to realize the rings are fake?"

The atmosphere was tense, even as some of Dino's men rustled around to examine and treat the injured member of CEDEF.

Reborn stared down his student. This amount of knowledge shown went well beyond what he may learn from Asami, but he couldn't be bothered by it right now. At the moment they had a bit of a crisis to address.

"I'd wager it'll take them a week, ten days at most." Reborn held in a sigh. "Xanxus will come after the rings, with or without Iemitsu's approval."

"Reborn… how much do you know about Xanxus?"

Tsuna hadn't asked Fuuta, but he was fairly certain that the truth about Xanxus was one of the top five best kept secrets. He hadn't even told any of his Guardians, so as far as he knew, only Nono, Xanxus, Asami, and he were aware of the real situation.

Reborn studied his students face and wasn't quite sure he liked the expression. He answered anyway, it was better for the Tsuna and his Guardians' to know what they were up against.

"Xanxus is Nono's youngest and only living son. He was among the more powerful of the heirs and even managed to become head of the Varia, Vongola's independent assassination squad. He went missing, however, about eight years ago. No one knows why, but many high powered members of the family wish to see Xanxus, who is the son of Nono, to become Decimo over Tsuna, who is related to Primo."

"But…" Tsuna bit his tongue to stop himself from commenting on how Xanxus was _not_ Nono's son. "Why did… my father contest it?" He asked instead.

"Iemitsu, like many others, feel that naming Xanxus the Boss would be a disaster for the Vongola and its allies. Dino and I agree."

"So all we have to do is prove Juudaime is the better candidate?"

Tsuna and Reborn looked at Hayato. While that sounds right in theory, Xanxus is still considered Nono's son and would be given preferential treatment by those who didn't know about the Crib incident. As far as anyone knew, Xanxus was stronger and more qualified than Tsuna could ever be, due to the disparities in their upbringing.

"That… isn't likely." Tsuna finally pushed out, unable to look Reborn in the eye. "Even though Xanxus betrayed the Vongola at one point…" He pointedly ignored Reborn's glare, his Guardians all knew _this_ at least. "…those who don't know the truth, and some that do, still see Secondo's line as preferable to Primo's."

Hayato growled, but a look from Tsuna stopped him before he could start a rant. He knew Tsuna preferred it when he could reign in his temper and think about things more rationally.

"Seven rings, Tsuna." Reborn reminded his student. "You only have five Guardians, if you don't have a sixth by the time Xanxus gets here, things could become even worse for you."

"I know… but Lambo…" Tsuna sent Hayato a look that told him he would explain later. "… is still too young, even with his unique blood line."

"Ah, but Lambo is a Bovino."

"What does… OH!" Tsuna smacked himself in the forehead for forgetting about that little tidbit of information. "The Ten Year Bazooka!"

"Exactly."

"But…" Reborn looked exasperated. "The bazooka only last's five minutes, not even Giannini Sr. could get it to last any longer and Giannini Jr… I won't even go there."

"What about you?"

"Eh!"

"I found the supped up taser you hid under _in_ your mattress."

"Shit…"

"Not really."

Student and teacher stared at each other as Tsuna started to sweat; this was a bad situation to be in. Knowledge plus technological skill tended to lead toward hacker, and a good one at that. Not that he'd actually had to hack into anything to find out about Xanxus.

"I…"

"I won't push, not right now." Tsuna's eyes widened. "Right now we need to focus on securing the other ring half's. Once we do, you're answering all of my questions."

Tsuna was nervous, but didn't experience any of the bone chilling terror he had earlier that week when he'd first admitted to having a mafia connection.

_If I beat Xanxus._ And Tsuna was fairly confident he could, even without the dirt he had on the older man. _It won't matter if the whole world knows who I am, not even the Vendici can exploit a confirmed mafia heir for his hacking skills._

In many ways, allowing Xanxus to play his game could end up working in Tsuna's favor. He'd have to run it by his Guardians, as some of them may want to resolve this without having to fight, but it was actually better for a mafia heir to secure his position by defeating his opponents.

Tsuna looked back at Reborn and sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, Lambo was and his bloodline would make for an ideal Lightning Guardian.

"If I can extend it to at least, at _least_…" He stressed. "… 10 minutes and I can confirm that Lambo of the future is a suitable fighter, I'll give him the ring."

"Good, we can test it now."

Tsuna jerked his head up, not having realized the four other presences in all the chaos. Not far off were Nana and the kids.

"Fine." Tsuna replied stiffly.

The sooner they got this over with, the better.

"Hey, stupid cow!" Tsuna sighed, but didn't correct Hayato. He couldn't get mad at the bomber for getting in little jabs at the boy that caused him hell. "Get over here!"

"Lambo-san doesn't want too!"

The two started glaring at each other and Hayato started stalking over to get the cow boy.

"Lambo." Lambo perked up at the sound of Tsuna's voice. "Can you come here for a minute?"

Lambo looked between Tsuna and the now frozen Hayato. After a moment he stuck his tongue out at Hayato, ignoring the bomber's indignant squawk, and ran up to Tsuna.

Nana looked worried, but listen to Reborn when he told her to go home, saying Lambo and Tsuna would both return shortly.

"Lambo-san is here!"

"Lambo…" Tsuna sighed as he looked into those big green eyes. "Do you have a Ten Year Bazooka?"

Lambo smiled and reached into his afro and produced said pink bazooka. Tsuna had been half hoping the boy wouldn't have it.

"Lambo-san is great with the bazooka! It doesn't go boom, but Lambo's enemies are always defeated when Lambo-san get back!"

Another point in favor of using Lambo that made Tsuna's heart sink. Lambo may already be a trained Mafioso, but the boy was still only five, far too young.

"Can you demonstrate for me? Use it on yourself so I can meet the future Lambo?"

Hayato came to stand next to his boss, glaring at Lambo as if daring him to refuse. There was no need for it, however, as Lambo immediately became excited and pointed the bazooka at himself.

"Ok!"

*Bang…Poof*

Standing in front of the group of Mafioso was no longer an afro haired child, but a handsome, smooth haired teen. Tsuna noticed a slight reddening on his Storm Guardian's cheeks.

_Damn… Lambo look _good_._

Adult Lambo appeared to have been in a casual situation, being dressed in a semi messy cow-print button-up dress shirt and black slacks. His face was board and uninterested, but perked up slightly at the sight of Tsuna.

"Oh! If it isn't young Vongola." Lambo smiled at the bewildered look on their faces. "This is the first time my younger self has used the bazooka with you guys. Heh, it sure brings me back to my cry baby days."

"Oy, Ahoshi." Adult Lambo looked at Reborn. "How are you in a fight?"

"Yare, yare…" Lambo sighed. "This is when you picked me to be Lightning Guardian, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I become Lightning Guardian." Was all he said before Adult Lambo was engulfed in pink smoke, leaving young Lambo behind.

*Sigh* "Lambo…"

"Tsuna-nii?"

"Here."

Tsuna grudgingly handed Lambo the Lightning Vongola Half Ring.

(A.N. Time to give out the rings and talk to the Guardians. Hehe… Reborn's getting close to the truth, but will he figure it out or will something else happen first. Hmm… I guess you'll just have to read and find out. Ja ne.)


	22. Getting Ready

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 22: Getting Ready

*Click…click…clack*

"Screw driver." Tsuna held out his hand for Reborn to place said tool.

Parts of the Ten Year Bazooka were spread in a confined area of his room, as he took it apart piece by piece. His special tinted, multi-vision glasses gave him a more complete view of every component and took automatic measurements, mass index, and temperature variants. Tsuna had a fairly good understanding of the inner workings of the Ten Year Bazooka from his research over the years, but just like with his first project, the headphones, nothing gave him a good feel for what he was working with like taking it apart and examining it.

Reborn had watched his student, mostly in silence, and handed him tools when he needed them. He already knew Tsuna was gifted in the engineering department, but he hadn't been expecting such a wide array of supplies. Expensive and custom supplies.

"Tsuna…"

"Hm?"

Tsuna unscrewed the hard drive cover and carefully examined the small wiring. As he looked closer, he noticed a small flaw…

"Where did you learn to do this?"

"Taught myself."

Tsuna was answering on reflex as he worked, too in groused in the ingenious piece of technology.

"Why?"

"I thought it was interesting."

Reborn knew his student wasn't really paying attention, but he didn't mind. As long as he was careful with how he worded things, Tsuna may give up more than he would under normal circumstances.

"Any other notable self taught skills?"

"Ha- Don't do that!"

Reborn almost pouted when Tsuna snapped out of his work induced trance before he could answer the question.

"I want to know."

"You said you wouldn't pry right now!"

"I still want to know."

Tsuna leveled Reborn as an exasperated look. Barely four days into the ten day limit Reborn set and Tsuna was ready to start banging his head on the wall.

He'd already given each Guardian their respective ring halves and explained what was going on. He could help but shudder at the memory of when he told Mukuro about Lambo.

Flashback

"Who's going to be your Lightning Guardian?"

"The Ten Year Bazooka…"

"Vongola..."

Tsuna shuddered. Mukuro never called him Vongola unless he was pissed.

"I don't want to do this." Tsuna's tired eyes pleaded with Mukuro's mismatched ones. "But he's… I talked to the Lambo of ten years from now and he's already confirmed I eventually pick him as my Guardian."

Tsuna knew why Mukuro was upset, but didn't… couldn't back down. He needs a Lightning Guardian and as much as he hated to admit it, Lambo, with his unique lineage, was perfect for the role.

Mukuro sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Tsunayoshi… you know what it's like to be the child of a Mafioso." Tsuna nodded. "Make sure to watch out for him or you'll end up regretting letting Xanxus play his game."

"We all agreed."

"I know."

Tsuna sighed before he remembered the other reason he came to Mukuro and got nervous again.

"Hey..."

"Tsunayoshi-kun?"

"Reborn seemed to think Akira… would make a good animal partner."

Mukuro narrowed his eyes for a moment before shaking his head.

"Akira's intelligent enough to make that decision."

"Thanks."

End Flashback

_At least Nagi's getting better._ While the trip hadn't exactly been a disaster, Mukuro had been colder lately. Tsuna could only hope whatever nerve he rubbed wrong would calm down before Xanxus decided to rear his ugly… well… temperamental head.

Tsuna shook his head and got back to examining the bazooka. He'd already stayed home from school Friday and today, and suspected he'd have to stay home until just before Xanxus's arrival. By the time the Ten Year Bazooka was ready, his Guardian's should be as well.

"Tsuna."

"Yeah?"

"Dino tells me you used your dying will flames against Squalo."

Tsuna froze in the middle of trying to reconnect the circuit board wiring to stare into Reborn's black eyes.

"Reborn…"

"I said I wouldn't pry for now." Reborn's gaze didn't waver. "But when this mess with Xanxus is resolved, you _will_ tell me everything."

Somehow that didn't scare Tsuna as much as it used to.

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Three Days Later

It had taken a week, but Tsuna was finally finished with the final adjustments to Lambo's Ten Year Bazooka, so Tsuna gathered his older Guardians for a meeting. In Kyoya's office.

Kyoya was _not_ happy that his personal secretary had taken a hiatus and had been kamikorosuing people for the most minor infractions he could think of, but couldn't bring himself to punish the actual offender. So the six of them cramped together in the reception room.

"Hayato." Tsuna knew he couldn't put this off any longer. "You are now my official Storm Guardian, as such, there is some important information I need to tell you."

"Anything Juudaime tells me will forever be burning in my memory!"

His two of his Guardians winced a little at the bomber's… over enthusiastic response, while the other two just smiled. This was another part they'd all agreed on, all official Guardian's would be entitled to know the truth about Yoshie… except Lambo, they were waiting for him to get older.

"The others are all already aware of this, as we've been working together for years." Hayato looked a little sad at that, but Tsuna ignored it, a hurt ego didn't fall into his description as care giver. "About six years ago, I started developing skills in the fields of engineering and hacking." Hayato's eyes widened but he didn't interrupt. "I soon became associated with the Disciplinary Committee and started making a name for myself as a hacker, but I made a mistake two years in and a man named Asami was able to connect me with…"

"With who?"

Hayato was practically bouncing in his seat; he wanted to know like a puppy wants to know its master loves him. Tsuna had already extracted a promise of loyalty from Hayato and his intuition told him to trust the enthusiastic bomber, even so… Tsuna couldn't help but hesitate.

"I need you to reaffirm something for me." Hayato nodded in response. "Nothing, and I mean nothing, I tell you is to be repeated to anyone outside this room, no matter what Reborn, Nono, or Ie- my father try to tell you, understand?"

"Of course, Juudaime!"

Tsuna took one last look at his other Guardians and got two encouraging looks and two indifferent ones. He couldn't help but smile at that, some things never change.

"I made a name for myself and to this date, the only person to ever figure out my real identity without me telling them is Asami."

"That's because Juudaime is amazing!"

Tsuna couldn't decide if he wanted to be pleased or stressed when on the receiving end of such unwavering faith and loyalty.

"Asami found out I was Yoshie."

Tsuna couldn't help but take out his iPhone to capture the dumbfounded expression on the bombers face.

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"VOI! When are we going to settle this, eh Boss!"

Squalo stormed into the darkened room, shouting for all he was worth at his lazy boss. For all of Xanxus' fierceness, he could act like a cat when he wanted to.

As Squalo trudged forward to stand in front of Xanxus, he was met with closed eyes and even breathing.

_Bastards pretending to sleep._ A vein started to bulge on the swordsman's forehead. _How dare he ignore me when it's important._

"Voi! Marmon already said the rings were fakes, so why haven't we gone yet?"

Again his question was met with silence, so Squalo just "tsked" and decided to bug the grumpy bastard later. If he was in a foul enough mood to ignore Squalo's ranting, than it was better to just let the sleeping lion lay.

As Squalo was storming out of the room as fast and as noisy as he stormed in, he was suddenly assaulted… by a damn liquor bottle!

"VOI!"

"Shut up, trash." Xanxus drawled lazily. "I was just enjoying a dream of how I utterly destroyed that boy… Sawada."

Squalo sent his boss a shark like grin, this could work.

"Heh. You haven't beaten him yet."

Years of experience was the only thing that prevented the red eyed glare he received from sending him packing. Xanxus really did have a foul temper and most people wouldn't dare try to provoke him the way Squalo does.

Then again, most people weren't Squalo.

"I will."

"I know, and then we can finally end this feud, once and for all."

"And what do you know about it?"

Xanxus looked bored, but Squalo could see the fury hiding underneath.

"I was by your side when you decided to pull of your little cue, what else could it be." Squalo lied, but it was better that than revealing his own dirty little secret.

That he knew the truth.

Xanxus closed his eyes again and took a deep breath. Things were about to get very interesting for a lot of people.

"We leave for Japan tomorrow."

"I'll tell the others."

With that, the red eyed lion was once again left in the silent darkness that was his room.

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"I'll be in Japan by tomorrow." Said a blonde man as he conversed on his cell phone.

'…'

"He really said he didn't want to talk?"

'…'

"So I guess he's pretty mad at me."

'…'

"Hey, no need to be cruel. We're already in the middle of a crisis."

'…'

"It isn't really my fault… well not too much anyway."

'…'

"Ok! So I was a crappy father, sue me."

'…'

"You don't think he'd actually do that… do you?"

'…'

"Maybe I should bring-"

'…'

The man with blonde hair sighed as he hung up his cell phone and got prepared to take off on the family's' private jet. Sometimes being a Mafioso had their perks, and other times it sucked.

"Tsuna… do you really hate me as much as Reborn says you do?"

(A.N. Kind of a filler by definitely necessary for the plot. I'm not going to write a lengthy AN, I have some home work to do. Anyway, review when you finish ready, ja ne.)


	23. Lambo in Danger

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 23: Lambo in Danger

*Tick… tick… tick…*

Tsuna kept a careful hold on the stop-watch in his left hand and an electric meter in his right.

*crackle… buzz*

Even if he was sure of his own skills, it never hurt to test new equipment, especially when Xanxus had arrived in Japan two hours earlier. Tsuna needed to make sure the improved Ten Year Bazooka worked the way it was supposed to before Xanxus got settled in and decided to attack.

As much as he hated to admit it, Adult Lambo, and even young Lambo to an extent, was a natural when it came to manipulating and controlling lighting. Apparently his unique physiology got stronger as he got older, so while young Lambo still got minor burns from electricity strong enough to kill an elephant, Adult Lambo only got a tingly feeling as the electricity used his body as a conduit before it was stored in his horns.

6,600 volts was enough to kill an elephant, so 10,000 volts would…

Adult Lambo only grimaced slightly at the increase, so while he could still feel some unpleasant effects from electricity, he would have no problem outlasting Levi-A-Than should they ever compete. From what Tsuna had learned, Levi had built up a bit of a resistance to electricity, but could only with stand up to 1000 volts before he gave into the pain. Of course this is still impressive, since people have been known to die from ten volts of electricity passing through their heart.

While Tsuna was certain Lambo could live through many times 10,000 volts, normal people have survived 50,000 volt lightning strikes as long as the electricity doesn't touch the heart, he only wanted to test how much electricity he could take before he started feeling pain.

Tsuna used his meter to shut down the generator and Adult Lambo relaxed as the currents remaining in his body quickly traveled and stored in his horns.

"Lambo… sorry to do this."

The stress of the impending fight was really starting cut into his sleep.

"It's alright, Tsuna-nii." Lambo sat down on the cool grass of Tsuna's backyard. "Yare, yare. I really hope my younger self doesn't call me to fight."

"I hope he doesn't have to fight either." Tsuna sighed as he sat next to the slightly older boy. "I… do train you right?"

"Of course."

While Adult Lambo was still a bit of a cry baby when he was picked on by Reborn (the devil child never could play nice), he was definitely more sensible and more adapt to combat than his hyper active counterpart.

"ROMEO!"

Lambo looked over his shoulder, only to be horrified at the sight of an enraged Bianchi… until she was hog-tied by one of Tsuna's traps. She struggle furiously against the bonds, but soon gave up, knowing, after having found herself in similar traps during the week, Tsuna's traps were flawless.

"Bianchi-san." Bianchi scowled and didn't answer Tsuna, who sighed before continuing. "How many times do I have to tell you, Romeo is dead. This is Lambo."

Bianchi tried not to blush in response; she knew that it was just…

*Poof*

Before anything else could be said, Adult Lambo was engulfed in the tell tale pink smoke of the Ten Year Bazooka. Tsuna quickly stopped the stop-watch in his hands.

10.73 minutes.

"I guess that settles it." He said as he wrote the results in his notebook. "The average is 10.72 minutes with a standard deviation of .06 seconds. It's not exact exact, but it's pretty damn close."

Lambo just looked up at Tsuna confused, two other cow like horns in his hands. They were about the same size as the ones on his head; the difference was they were covered in tan paint and green tiger like stripes.

Now where did those come from?

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna felt uneasy about letting Lambo go with Haru, Kyoko, I-Pin, and Fuuta, but he didn't stop the group as he went off with Hayato and Takeshi.

While Hayato still showed a fierce possessive side, especially around strangers, he'd learned to not interfere with other Guardians when they wanted to speak with Tsuna alone, no matter how much he wanted to. Sometimes the others, namely Takeshi and Ryohei, didn't mind having the temperamental bomber around, which generally lead to days like today.

"You needed to talk about something, Takeshi?"

Hayato didn't say anything, but did momentarily glance at the swordsman before going back to scouting the area for enemies.

"It's about Lambo…"

*Sight* "I don't like it either, but he's… he really is the best."

"You said something about him having special resistance to electrical shocks, right?" Tsuna nodded. "And Lambo comes from a mafia famiglia, right?" Again, Tsuna nodded, he already knew where this was going, seeing as how he'd had the same argument with Reborn multiple times. "So why not just get someone older from that famiglia?"

Hayato looked like he wanted to say something, most likely to scold Takeshi for questioning the boss, but held his tongue when Tsuna sent him a sideways glance.

"I wanted to but…"

"But?"

"Lambo is special, even for a Bovino."

"Tsuna…" Takeshi sighed and ran a hand through his short black hair, his handsome face for once missing its characteristic smile. "He's still a kid."

"I wasn't much older when I started getting involved." Takeshi winced at the memory of the first kidnapping attempt six years prior. "Besides, the Ten Year Bazooka allows for a ten minute switch."

"As long as he doesn't fight as the younger version…" Takeshi sighed, even if they all agreed it would be better if they proved themselves better than the competition, even an invalid competition, they were still all reasonably stressed by the situation. "I'm starting to feel old."

Tsuna gave Takeshi a small smile and even Hayato couldn't help but agree that the situation was disconcerting. Even Ryohei had been a bit stressed lately, especially at the thought of Kyoko finding out he's involved in a non-tournament regulated fighting situation… again.

"Ma ma." Takeshi brightened up and smiled. "Once this is all over we can enjoy some sushi at my old man's place."

"Sushi?"

Hayato's curiosity was peeked, while he was ¼ Japanese, he'd only recently started enjoying traditional Japanese cuisine, but had yet to try sushi.

"Yeah, my old man owns a sushi restaurant. Ha ha, he taught me everything he knows, including swordsmanship."

Hayato walked in front of Takeshi and grabbed his hands. Tsuna and Takeshi were a bit confused before they noticed Hayato examining the calluses on Takeshi's palms.

"You have a multi-purpose style, balance with attack and defense." Hayato concluded after tracing the patterns the calluses made. Such marks were very distinctive because the formed based on weapon grip and friction caused by the type of movement. "What's your style called?"

"Shigure Soen Ryu."

"Hmm… I think I've heard of it. Isn't it known as the invincible sword style?"

"Ha ha. That's the one."

Hayato bit his lip and examined Takeshi more closely. Takeshi was incredibly tall for a fourteen-year-old, especially a Japanese fourteen-year-old. He was lean and muscular, one who held a lot more strength than he appeared to. He was obviously athletic and could show considerable skill in the martial arts, even if Hayato had never seen him fight.

Tsuna, who had been watching the scene quietly up until now, was about to say something when he was filled with a sudden feeling of dread. His super intuition normally only affected him like this when he, or someone he knew, was in imminent danger. His intuition was telling him he wasn't the target and the threat was some distance away…

The feeling was coming from the direction Lambo and the others had gone in!

"1Yakyubaka-"

Hayato was cut off as Tsuna ran past both stunned boys, making a b-line for his hyper Lightning Guardian. The cold feeling in his chest constricted at the thought of Xanxus going after the weakest Guardian first.

Namimori wasn't that big, so it wouldn't take long for Tsuna to reach the street the group had been heading. As he ran, he was aware of the other two following hot on his heels, neither asking questions as they'd expected something bad to happen the last couple of days.

As they approached their destination, Tsuna could make out the faint outlines of a group of people, one of the group being far larger than any of Tsuna's friends.

"Lambo!"

KHRKHRKHRKHR

"Lambo-san is going to eat cake!"

Lambo ran ahead of the others as they came onto the same street as the cakes shop.

"Lambo-chan!"

Haru grabbed Lambo by the back of his cow suit, pulling him back to the group. Tsuna had left his little adopted family in her care and she wasn't going to risk any of the cute children getting hurt.

"Let go! Lambo-san wants to go!"

"Sorry Lambo-kun." Kyoko apologized with a cheerful smile. "We have to stay together."

Lambo pouted and crossed his arms. He didn't want to wait.

A sly grin spread on Lambo's round face, all he had to do was wait. As soon as Haru put him back down, he would run full speed. No one could catch the great Lambo-san!

As he planned, when Haru put him back down not a minute later, Lambo took off in a dead run.

"Lambo-chan!"

Lambo laughed maniacally as he rushed ahead, the others running behind him. He had no intention of stopping! Not until-

Lambo suddenly fell backwards as he collided with a large mass.

"Lambo-chan/Lambo-kun."

Haru and the others ran up to the downed Lambo and started to comfort the now sobbing boy, before he started to get angry.

"Hey! How dare you knock down the great Lambo-san! You…"

Lambo trailed off as he realized the person he was yelling at… was scary. He was a large, tan skinned man with long spiky black hair. He wore a black trench coat with six curved metal pieces showing from his back. As he glowered, the light the glinted off of his piercings and into his eyes only made the intimidating man seem even more frightening.

Lambo stared up at the man with watery eyes, not realizing that the others gaze was fixed on the ring he wore around his neck (curtsey of Tsuna-nii).

Haru and Kyoko tried to apologize, but they to froze at the sight of the scary looking man. They had grown up around rough people, having lived in Namimori and seen the birth of the Disciplinary Committee, but never had they seen anyone quite like this.

"E-excuse m-me…" Haru tried to brave talking to the man. "I-I'm… We-we're very-very so-sorry." She managed to stammer out.

"Ye-yes. So-sorry." Kyoko followed suit as they bowed.

The man just continued to glower at the trembling Lambo, whose fingers were now twitching to take the Ten Year Bazooka out of his afro. The man was wearing a ring that looked a lot like the one he was. Tsuna-nii had said the people with the other halves of their rings would be coming after them soon.

The man reached behind himself and pulled on one of the curved metal bars, which Lambo could now see were actually umbrella handle. The one he pulled crackled with electricity, something Lambo was used to and knew wouldn't hurt that bad, but it did sometimes leave an unpleasant tingle. He'd heard most people got really hurt when touched with electricity, he was just special because of his Bovino genes.

He took a watery glance back at Haru, Kyoko, I-Pin, and Fuuta. They'd all been really nice to him and he didn't want to see them hurt. Taking a big gulp he stepped forward, trying to be brave for his new family. Tsuna-nii would want him to be brave, why else would he give him the pretty ring to protect.

"La-Lambo-san does-doesn't know yo-you but can yo-you ple-please move?"

Lambo trembled as he spoke, trying to sound confident and commanding, his eyes watering more as he failed and the strangers eyes narrowed. Lambo had never seen such cold eye's before.

The umbrella was now pointed directly at his head. That was… good. His horns would absorb most of the electricity before it could really affect him.

The man was preparing to strike and Lambo felt twin pairs of arms pull him back, as Haru and Kyoko tried to shield him.

"Lambo!"

Lambo's head, as well as everyone else's, snapped back at the sound of Tsuna's voice calling out. Tsuna-nii was there to rescue them from the scary man.

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna panted roughly as he saw Kyoko and Haru covering the kids, using their own bodies as shields. He felt a growl rise in his throat as he realized that Levi had been prepared to attack an innocent child on the street, just to get his hands on the damn ring. Tsuna didn't even hesitate to pull out his gloves and activate his flames.

Screw proving themselves! He could do that right here and now!

(A.N. Hehe, cliffy for all those who are too lazy to keep up with KHR… or maybe a true cliffy or all! If you want to know, you have to keep ready. Mwahahahaha… I think I may be a little crazy, but who cares. Ja ne.)

1Yakyubaka – Baseball nut, and I can get away with this because it's what Hayato calls Takeshi


	24. Name of the Game

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 24: Name of the Game

As soon as his flames came to life, Tsuna leapt at the much larger figure that was Levi of the Varia. Levi had not been expecting such a high velocity attack, and having been the clumsiest of the Varia, was unable to dodge as Tsuna rapped one gloved hand around his throat and used the other to knock the electrified umbrella out of his grip.

"Levi… don't you know better than to threaten civilians?"

Levi struggled frantically, not even registering the menacing tone from the small boy in front of him. Despite the clear size difference, with him being about a foot taller and out weighing Tsuna by a good 50 lbs, Levi couldn't break the vice like grip on his neck and every time he tried to grab an umbrella, he was thwarted.

"T-tra- Ahhh!"

Tsuna finally had enough of Levi reaching for his umbrellas and smashed Levi's right hand under his foot.

Levi couldn't stand being at the smaller boys' merci, it was an embarrassment. He tried to vocalize, but Levi had just enough room to allow a small amount of air to enter his lunges, and speaking was made impossible.

"What's the matter Levi? Can't handle a real Vongola?"

Levi tried to glare at the insolent boy strangling him, but he froze as his black eyes met burning amber. The eyes reflected the rage that boiled beneath the surface, anger over taking the rational most mafia famiglia's associate with the Vongola dying will flame.

Tsuna barely contained rage urged him, _desperately_, to just give a quick flick of the wrist. That's all it would take. He'd already made his bones years ago; it wasn't like murder wasn't something he hadn't participated in yet. Of course he never particularly enjoyed it; he wasn't averse to using lethal force.

"Tsu-Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna bit the inside of his cheek, desperate not to show to much of his raging emotions, as Kyoko's voice reminded him why he hadn't already killed Levi.

"Haru… Kyoko." Tsuna managed to maintain a steady voice, his hyper dying will mode helping exponentially. "Take the kids and go."

"But Tsu-"

"Get them out of here."

His voice was deceptively calm, but left no room for argument. Both girls knew that while Tsuna was normally a very calm and easy going person, he could transform into someone cold in cruel in the right, or wrong, situation. They'd each only seen it once before, but…

"Alright."

Haru grabbed Lambo and I-Pin, while Kyoko picked up Fuuta and started running in the direction of Tsuna's house, it was closer and safer than theirs.

"Takeshi, go with them." Takeshi nodded and started to follow. "Hayato, find Reborn." Hayato didn't argue, knowing better than to argue with his boss in this state.

Now that Lambo, Levi's primary target, was no longer in the area, Tsuna could focus better. Killing Levi right now would be pointless, especially when he held such a wealth of knowledge. Not that the fanatic would ever betray Xanxus, no Tsuna wanted something else from the man, data.

Research and hacking can only tell you so much, even if you're the best. No, Tsuna preferred hands on experimentation as confirmation.

"Now Levi, let's say you and I have a little fun with electricity."

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Xanxus drummed his fingers impatiently as he and his Guardians waited for Levi's return. If they were going to get started with this damn charade, they needed all of the players.

"Marmon." Xanxus growled out. "Where did you say that trash went?"

"He wanted to see who his opponent would be."

Marmon watched his boss cautiously; Xanxus was in a much worse mood than he had been that morning. He'd been so pleased when the Gola Moska and its power source finally bonded; he'd even granted them a few hours rest after the flight. That was before Levi was late for their meeting.

Marmon's toddler body wasn't well adapted to physical attacks, so he did his best to avoid the boss when his temper was up. Being an Arcobaleno didn't protect him from much, not like Reborn.

"That trash should be back by now."

"Shishishi. Maybe he got an early start on the competition."

Xanxus turned his red eyed glare on the laughing blonde, but he didn't so much as flinch. Belphegor had always been like that, constantly wearing a slasher smile as he gave off an eerie laugh. The blonde hair, decorated with a small tiara, fell over his face obscuring it from view, so people could never really tell what he was thinking.

"Levi would never go against boss's orders." Marmon said confidently. "He's too much like a trained dog."

"VOI!" Squalo stormed into the room after his latest effort to find Xanxus' wayward Lightning Guardian. "Xan- arg!"

Xanxus threw his glass of wine, right at Squalo's face.

"Stop yelling trash." Xanxus was already nursing a headache. "Did you find the trash?"

Squalo had half a mind to tell Xanxus to shove it, but gave an irritated sigh instead. The sooner they finished with this damn game, the better.

"Someone said they saw a scary looking guy in a trench coat get his ass kicked by a kid with flames shooting out of his head and hands."

Squalo was almost glad Xanxus had already wasted his ammo, or he was sure he'd be getting another glass in the face if the look in Xanxus' eyes was any indication.

"Sawada's a brat, no match for even a piece of trash like Levi."

"Voi! Didn't I tell you the brat could use flames!" Squalo would rather not have to deal with rescuing a fellow member of Varia, but even he knew the Vongola sky flame was among the most formidable forces to be reckoned with, even in the hands of a child. "The brat may have some talent."

"I'll search again."

Marmon moved forward, map in hand. Every other time he tried to find Levi had ended in failure, which lead him to believe a powerful illusionist was hiding Levi's presence. Squalo may be right about Xanxus'… competition having a hand in Levi's disappearance.

KHRKHRKHR

Levi was the weakest member of Xanxus' group of Guardians, even if he would never admit it, but he was no slouch. Levi had spent the last fifteen years training and honing his skills as an assassin, ten of those had been spent in the Varia, devoted to Xanxus.

He always knew Xanxus would one day be named Vongola Decimo, so he did everything possible to secure the position of Lightning Guardian, so he could always play the role of Boss's shield. So you could imagine his surprise when Xanxus decided to stage a coup because Nono wasn't going to make him Decimo.

He'd been furious, he was still furious. That's why, after the coup failed, he did everything he could to get even stronger, so as to be of more use to Boss when he decided to make another move.

As years went by and the other contenders started dropping like flies, Levi was certain there was no way for Boss not to be named Decimo. That was until he learned about a boy named Sawada Tsunayoshi, the son of the Vongola External Adviser and direct descendent of Primo. Boss still had one final hurdle to overcome.

It should have been easy; Iemitsu's son had only just been introduced to the mafia world, so he shouldn't be much of a threat. Shouldn't be.

"Now Levi." Levi snapped out of his musings to glare at the irritatingly cute boy. "Tell me what you feel."

Levi bit his lip and tried to hold in the sounds of pain that wanted to escape his throat. Volts of electricity shot through his body with a vengeance, rubbing his already overly stimulated nerves to the point his body was starting to respond before the shock even started.

Sawada may look cute an innocent, but he was more sadistic than anything else.

As the charge came back down, Levi stole a glance around the room. Five other teen boys, the two from before included, and Reborn scattered across the room, watching the scene unfold with morbid curiosity. Reborn wasn't even making any suggestions, just watching.

From his observations, he found that all of the boys had a Vongola Ring Half on their middle fingers, meaning the only one missing from the scene was the little cow brat. He was looking at Sawada's choice for a tenth generation of the Vongola.

He would have snorted if he could. As if children could ever compare to Boss.

"Did that hurt Levi?" The brat said with the most sincere smile on his face… that was creepy. "Too bad, Lambo can handle five times that before he even starts showing signs of discomfort."

Levi just glared as the brat turned his attention toward the blue haired brat with pineapple hair. He couldn't hear what was being said, but it seemed like the brat was done toying with him. It was finally time to get down to business.

"I think I've punished you suitably for _trying_ to harm my Guardian." Levi winced, he hated to admit it but he was almost afraid of what may have happened if he'd actually landed a blow on the damn cow. "Now I want you to sit quietly, while we wait for Xanxus to show his sorry ass. I think it's time we lay down some ground rule for this… competition."

KHRKHRKHR

Marmon was actually a bit surprised when Levi's location appeared on the map; he was expecting to run into another dead end. What surprised him more, though, was that a force was pushing back, showing that seven of the fourteen ring halves were all together, Levi's being one of them.

"I found him, but..." All attention was on the Mist Arcobaleno. "… Sawada and most of his Guardians are there as well."

"Let's pick up the trash."

As they left the hotel, two pink haired women watched from a distance, it was time to officially start the competition.

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna was beyond caring about the glances Reborn was sending him; he was still pissed about the Lambo incident.

He knew, despite his devilish behavior, Reborn wasn't the type to kill a child, so the little bits of bullying had only served to irritate Tsuna. With Levi, however, there were no reservations and he knew the man would have killed Lambo, and the others, without a second thought.

Tsuna hated the man, more than any other member of the Varia he'd ever heard about. All were ruthless and all had sadistic tendencies, but Levi was the most extreme. Even Xanxus didn't pull at his temper quite as much as his over enthusiastic dog.

So Tsuna brooded in silence, wanting to torture Levi more but knowing he had to have some functionality in order to compete in whatever competition Xanxus cooked up, and he knew there would be a competition. After all, Xanxus didn't have much confidence with those who knew about the crib incident, he would need to prove himself and the best way to do that would be to defeat Tsuna and his Guardian's in an official contest.

He shook himself out of his musings as he felt five powerful presences making their way into Kokuyoland. He didn't have any more time to contemplate; he had to be ready for the worst.

It didn't take Xanxus and his twin stalkers (Tsuna really hated the Cervello) to reach the auditorium Tsuna had set up his torture… ehem experiment station.

He couldn't help but feel vindicated as Xanxus' famous red eyes widened in shock at the sight of Levi in the hot seat. Somehow Tsuna knew he'd made a very difficult and important decision in letting Levi live, but he wouldn't bring himself to regret it, not right now at least. It wouldn't prove much if he killed Levi now.

"Xanxus."

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

The two boss candidates stared each other down as their respective Guardians did the same to each other. It was time to get started.

"Xanxus… before you go on a rampage, as you famous temper dictates you do." He smirked as Xanxus' eyebrow twitched. "Let's hear what the Cervello have to say."

The two pink haired women made themselves visible, appearing to be stunned that _Tsuna_ had been the one to spot them.

"Yes." Said the one with a ruffled tank. "We are here to stop you from engaging."

Xanxus, even though Tsuna knew this was part of his plan, growled and starting spitting obscenities at the Cervello, but didn't argue as they handed him a document containing Nono's official flame seal.

_It's forced. _Tsuna could feel it in the flames, but didn't say anything… _yet_.

"**Until now, I thought that the one worthy to become the heir was Iemitsu's son, Sawada Tsunayoshi, and so I compelled to that. However, lately, because I am nearing the end of my life, my intuitions became sharp and I've decided to select an heir who's more worthy. My Son, Xanxus, is the one worthy to become Vongola Decimo."**

As they finished reading the document, Tsuna couldn't help but smile sardonically. It was faked, but the flames were real. Xanxus must really feel bitter.

"As you can see, Nono has named Xanxus as his successor." Xanxus smirked, but the Cervello continued. "However, the Vongola External Adviser has informed us he does not agree."

Xanxus' eyes sharpened as he attempted to intimidate Tsuna, only to be stunned when Tsuna gave him a smirk in return.

"In accordance with Vongola bi-laws, we must settle this dispute." The Cervello ignored the silent competition of wills. "We will be conducting the Vongola Ring Conflict, with like rings facing each other. The Conflict will begin next week."


	25. Sun Match

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 25: Sun Match

A week worth of training with Reborn was hell. Nothing more, nothing less. Although Reborn was suitably impressed with the skills and slight sadism he'd shown with the Levi incident, Reborn was convinced Tsuna needed to learn one very important technique. Primo's Zero Point Breakthrough.

Oh, Tsuna had heard of it before, but hadn't tried to learn a technique that was never described in detail, even if he had the same weapon as Primo. Still, he couldn't deny that the process made for some interesting discoveries; he could use it to absorb flames, he could use it to absorb flames and make them his own, and he could freeze things.

It was very useful, but didn't work well with his darts like his normal flames did.

As the week drew to a close, Reborn deemed him proficient enough to check on his Guardian. Takeshi was working on developing new techniques for his sword style. Hayato was working on a new bomb technique with Shamal. Mukuro was fussing over the still weak Nagi. Ryohei was working with an Arcobaleno name Colonello, who Reborn said could bring out more of the boxers hidden potential. And Kyoya was being Kyoya, working on and off trying to bite Dino and avoid him.

Lambo… Tsuna had worked on helping Lambo learn self control. Not an easy task when you're dealing with a temperamental cry baby, but he managed… a little.

"Lambo-san wants it… but Tsuna-nii said Lambo-san has to wait…"

Today was the day of the first match and all Lambo was doing was staring longingly at some grape candy Tsuna had set out. All of the children had been told not to touch it unless Tsuna said they could have some (Reborn having agreed not to be his normal asshole self so as not to jeopardize the self control training) and while I-Pin and Fuuta really wanted some, they were doing better than Lambo.

Tsuna was sitting quietly at the head of the low table, sipping some tea as he quietly observed the children. So far none had made a move for the candy, but that be because of his presence.

"I'm going out for a bit." Lambo immediately perked up. "If you haven't touched any candy by the time I return, I'll let you have it and some ice cream."

As Tsuna left the room all three children stared at each other, unsure what to do. Surely Tsuna-nii wouldn't know if they took a piece each right. Each of their hands itched with the urge but they held it in… Tsuna-nii would know, he always knows.

"I want… I want… I want…"

Lambo's eyes watered with the sure force of will he was exhibiting. If he made Tsuna-nii proud, then it would all be worth it.

Lambo's hands inched up so they were resting on the table.

Fuuta leaned forward, licking his lips.

I-Pin just sat on her hands.

"Tsuna-san said no… Tsuna-san said no…"

For ten agonizing minutes, they waited and waited. Just before they felt their self control snap, the door opened and Tsuna walked back in… three ice cream cones in hand and a smile on his face.

"Although this was more for Lambo's sake…" He said as he handed out the cones and candy. "…it's good for all three of you to learn self control and patients; it'll help you later in life, especially since you're all known to the mafia."

Tsuna had decided to focus on reshaping Lambo's attitude before he moved into more advanced things, like how to better use his electrical abilities. If Lambo didn't have enough self control, he was liable to hurt someone in a fit of rage.

KHRKHRKHR

"Onii-chan… what are you doing?"

Kyoko was worried about her brother. He'd been missing school and had been disappearing for hours with no explanation. While he wasn't coming home any worse than if he'd had a nice bout of training, Kyoko was seriously starting to consider he'd gotten back into fighting.

"Sawada invited me to participate in an EXTREME tournament!"

Since Ryohei was a bad liar, even after spending years around Tsuna, they'd decided the best story to give Kyoko would be the one as close to the truth as possible.

"A… tournament?"

"Yeah! But this is just for… friends."

"No… regulators?"

While Kyoko wasn't against Ryohei training with friends, she didn't like him having a full on fight outside of competitions, they didn't have as many rules. She knew Tsuna was good at keeping Ryohei and the others in line and helped to release Ryohei's pent up energy she couldn't help but feel… anxious. Something didn't seem right.

"Don't worry; Sawada will keep things under control." It wasn't a lie; Tsuna said he would stop the charade if it ever went too far. "No one ever gets hurt in our EXTREME tournaments, we've had plenty of EXTREME tournaments, remember."

"I know, but… this feels different."

Ryohei gave Kyoko the biggest smile he could manage and patted her on the shoulder.

"Would you EXTREMELY feel better if Sawada talked to you?"

Kyoko brightened up immediately, Tsuna always made her feel better about these situations. So much so that she'd actually asked Tsuna on a date once. He turned her down, which had been a real shock to both her and Hana, but he still gave her that feeling of comfort, even if she could never be with him.

"Maybe that'll ease my nerves some."

Kyoko picked up her cell phone and punched in the number she knew by heart.

*Ring… ring… ring… click*

'Moshi moshi, Sawada residence."

"Tsuna-kun, its Kyoko."

'Kyoko? Do you need something?'

"Not really, I'm just wondering about this new tournament you and Onii-chan will be in."

'Oh that, it's just Nii-san, Takeshi, Hayato, Kyoya-san, Mukuro, and me. Kyoya-san's been a little stressed lately and we thought a tournament would make him feel better.'

Kyoko though for a moment and realized it was true; Hibari had been in a foul mood lately. He always did seem more relaxed after one of Tsuna's tournaments.

"Alright then, just make sure Onii-chan doesn't get too carried away."

'Will do… can I talk to Nii-san?'

"Sure." Kyoko turned to her brother, who'd polishing his boxing gloves. "Tsuna-kun wants to talk."

"Yosh." Ryohei took the phone. "Sawada?"

'Same rules as before, but if she asks if Kyoya-san is feeling better, say yes.'

"Right." It never failed to blame Kyoya's temper. "See you later; I need to finish getting ready."

'Right.'

*Click*

Ryohei handed the phone back to his sister and went up to his room to put away his gloves.

"Onii-chan!" Ryohei looked back at her. "If it's a bare knuckle match, I want you to at least let me check your hands when you get back."

"Of course!"

KHRKHRKHR

11 O'clock found Tsuna and his six Guardians in the school courtyard, waiting for their opponents to arrive.

Before them was a massive caged in ring, like one you expect to find in pro wrestling, only it was lined with what Tsuna knew to be extremely bright florescent lights. Luckily, Tsuna was always prepared and had brought his specially modified glasses (they're tinted), one for each of the eight on his side.

"Nii-san." Tsuna said after handing out the glasses. "Colonello knows to keep Kyoko away, right?"

"Yeah." Ryohei nodded. "He said he'd head over here after Kyoko went to bed."

"Good."

"Olelele! Lambo-san wants to play in the big thing!"

Tsuna grabbed Lambo before he could get to the cage, ignoring Reborn and Hayato as they muttered about "ahoshi." Of course, Lambo started to struggle immediately.

"Now Lambo." Lambo stilled at the tone in Tsuna's voice. "Didn't I teach you about this earlier?"

"Yeah."

Lambo grumbled, but got comfortable in Tsuna's arms anyway. He'd choose being carried by Tsuna over Kyoko or Haru any day.

This scene covered the span of five minutes and by the time they turned their attention back to the cage, Tsuna felt the Varia coming. Xanxus wasn't with them.

As soon as all opponents were gathered, the Cervello decided to show themselves, seeming to think they'd appear in style, even though everyone but Lambo had sensed them coming.

"Today we will begin the Vongola Ring Conflict. We will start with the Sun Guardians."

Ryohei grinned and put a fist in his palm, he saw it as good luck to be called up first. His opponent was someone Tsuna had been a bit worried about. Lussuria was a Muay Tai expert, a martial art similar to box only including elbows and knees, making it more dangerous.

"Nii-san." Tsuna called.

"I know."

Ryohei had a fire in his eyes that calmed any doubts Tsuna may have had, Ryohei had been getting ready for something like this for the better part of two years. He was ready as he was ever going to be.

"Ha ha. Shouldn't we do one of those cheering rings?"

Tsuna winced at the innocent question, but Ryohei immediately perked up.

"EXTREME! I've always wanted to do one of those!"

Tsuna sighed as Takeshi and Ryohei grabbed Hayato, who was arguing the idea profusely. He turned toward Mukuro and Kyoya with pleading eyes and was met with matching glare.

"Please." Tsuna unleashed his puppy eyes. "He fights better when he's happy."

It didn't take long for Tsuna to convince his antisocial Guardians to participate, even if they were both giving off murderous auras as the seven of them (Lambo being held up between Tsuna and Ryohei) made a circle.

"Ryohei fight! Oh!"

As they broke apart Ryohei seemed even more confident and followed Lussuria into the ring. As they stepped into the cage Ryohei slipped of his shirt and put on some fingerless gloves over top of his bandages, it wasn't as effective as gloves but would make Kyoko worry less. He slipped on the glasses just as the Cervello activated the lights, feeling extremely glad Tsuna was such a nerd sometimes.

"You will be battling all out until one of you is unable to continue, the object is to obtain your opponents ring half and complete the Sun Ring, the prize." The Cervello explained in a bored voice. "This cage is equipped with high powered florescent lights that are meant to imitate the effects of the sun. It is the Sun Guardians duty to destroy the misfortune that attacks the family with their own body; they become the sun that brightly shines upon an area. You must be able to use this special field and prove your worth. The Ring Halves must be worn around your necks for the duration of the match."

As both Guardians of Sun were wearing tinted glasses, the lights were only mildly irritating in that they were hot and caused sweating. Neither cared though.

"Wah!" Lussuria cried with his hands on his face. "You're just my ideal type !"

Tsuna winced a little; Lussuria was very openly gay… in a creepy way.

"What?"

"Your body and your muscles are amazing." Lussuria cooed at Ryohei's confusion. "I just want to take you home and play!"

Ryohei looked disturbed; seemingly unable to comprehend he was being hit on by a guy who was supposed to want him dead.

"The field is set." The Cervello cut in before the strange conversation could continue. "Battle Start!"

Ryohei immediately fell into a boxing stance, only to get a condescending laugh from Lussuria.

"Boxing? Isn't this Japan, home of hundreds of beautiful martial arts?" Lussuria seemed to think it was funny he was fighting a Japanese boxer. "As a man dedicated to Muay Tai, I can't help but feel insulted that my opponent is just a boxer."

"Say what you want." Ryohei growled, but kept his temper in check. "I will EXTREMELY win and protect my EXTREME little brother Sawada!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Tsuna?" Tsuna called from outside the cage.

"Fine." Ryohei answered. "My EXTREME little brother Tsuna!"

Lussuria smirked at the answer and charged Ryohei, fists raised.

Ryohei thought back to everything Tsuna ever told him about Lussuria. The man made his Muay Tai even more dangerous by using steel plates on his knees and heavy padding on his elbows. He was great at utilizing his knees in defense and attack, which made him more dangerous in the air, so he always tried to get his opponent to feed him momentum to launch into the air. Ryohei smirked; he may have been in trouble if it wasn't for Tsuna.

He dodged to the right, mindful to keep his right arm close to his body, Colonello hadn't given him permission to use it yet.

Tsuna watched as Ryohei danced around Lussuria, not taking the initiative to attack. Anyone with a martial arts background could tell Ryohei was taking in Lussuria's movements, his style and footwork being key to understanding what kind of move he would launch.

Tsuna's earlier worry vanished completely, Ryohei was stronger than Lussuria, and his hyper intuition assured him of victory. Lussuria may have had an advantage if Ryohei hadn't known about the steel plates, but Ryohei wasn't about to fall into an obvious trap. No Lussuria was built for defense and counter attacks using his opponents own body, Ryohei was more straight forward and had enough strength to destroy a building with his bare fists if he let himself go.

Ryohei finally planted his feet and used his body to knock back Lussuria's punch and launch his own volley of left jabs. As he'd predicted, Lussuria took one punch to the chin and used it to send himself upward, but Ryohei had held back for him to do that on purpose. He wanted to end this quickly and get back to Kyoko.

As Lussuria came back down, knee out, Ryohei made to punch with his left hand, but side stepped at the last second. Lussuria was confused by the sudden change and was off balance when Ryohei jabbed his left fist into the side of Lussuria's exposed knee, shattering the bone instantly.

"ARG!"

It had been a short, but decisive fight. Lussuria would be out of commission until he could have a knee replacement and that could take months. Longer if Xanxus upheld the law of Varia, get rid of the weak.

"Hand over the ring. I've EXTREMELY won."

Ryohei held out his hand expectantly, but was amazed when Lussuria scrambled onto his undamaged leg and balanced himself on one foot.

"N-no! Let's continue, hurry! I can still fight!"

Lussuria was panicking, but only Ryohei, Takeshi, and Lambo didn't know why. If he didn't win he would most likely die.

"You've already lost." Ryohei said confusedly. "No one can fight with a broken knee."

"No! I-"

Lussuria was cut off as a shot rang out through the school. His body lurched forward from the impact before falling, blood soaking the back of his shirt. Everyone turned to see a large man shaped monstrosity.

Tsuna tensed, realizing he hadn't sensed it coming, and even now could only feel the slightest hint of flames seeping from the man shaped machine. Tsuna knew what it was and felt a creeping dread fill his core.

The Gola Mosca was a project Nono abandoned months ago because its battery was powered by dying will flames, a lot of them. He didn't see the point in wasting his flames on a clumsy machine that ate flames like a Hummer at gas. Tsuna knew if the Varia had a working Mosca, then they had to have figured out a solution to power problem, found a way to make the flame consumption more efficient. If it wasn't Xanxus wouldn't bother putting his own flames into it.

"What the hell!" Tsuna snapped out of his musings at Ryohei's exclamation. "His own team mate?"

The Gola Mosca was wearing the Vongola Cloud Ring Half.

"That is the Varia way." Reborn explained. "The weak die so that the strong may flourish, that is what determines Varia quality."

The Cervello quickly stepped into the ring as they deactivated the lights and got between Ryohei and Lussuria.

"The match is over. Sawada Tsunayoshis' Sun Guardian, Sasagawa Ryohei, will be granted the complete Vongola Sun Ring."

Ryohei didn't argue, instead he put the two pieces together and slipped the ring onto his middle finger, where it belonged.

"Alright Turf Top/Sempai."

Hayato and Takeshi called from beside Tsuna; they'd truly won the first match.

"The match for tomorrow night will be…" All attention was on the Cervello. "… Storm!"

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna hated his intuition sometimes, especially when it told him unpleasant things.

He could feel it as he approached his two story house with its cheerful for "sale sigh" sitting in the lawn. They'd been getting ready to move into the new house Nana had purchased on the outskirts of Namimori, but wouldn't be able to move in fully until the all the paper work was filled out and that wouldn't be for another ten days. Almost everything was packed away, except for some sparse furniture.

But that wasn't why he was pissed.

No, Tsuna could feel an irritatingly familiar presence beyond the threshold of his childhood home. A presence he'd long since associated with bad things, mafia things. No matter what anyone said about standing by your family, Tsuna never wanted to feel that man in his house, _ever_.

Tsuna was pissed because his father was home.

(A.N. I know it's supposed to be lightning next, but I switched it up for a reason, I swear! If there are any complaints about the fight being short, I want you to think about the original match and why Ryohei had to fight so hard for so long. First, he couldn't see. Second, he didn't know about the knee and ended up hurting himself early on. Third, he didn't have proper motivation. With my story all of those factors are eliminated, so Ryohei, who is stronger than Lussuria in cannon, would have no problem defeating an opponent he'd prepared for. You have to remember that while Levi is the weakest, Lussuria is the second weakest. It isn't until you get to Squalo, Bel, Marmon, and Xanxus that you get to the actual power houses of Varia. Well, tell me what you think, ja ne.)


	26. Sins of the Father

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 26: Sins of the Father

Tsuna was pissed because his father was home.

When he was younger, Tsuna had felt irritation and maybe a little bit of bitterness at his father, but that feeling grew and grew fast. After he officially got involved with the mafia as Yoshie, a small amount of bitterness grew to outright resentment. Feelings like that have a tendency to fester.

Maybe his father had good intentions, staying separate from his family for their protection, but it is as the saying goes. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. By keeping Tsuna and Nana ignorant, Tsuna believed all Iemitsu did was put them in more danger. They never knew someone might come after them or why, at least until Tsuna put everything together.

As he stood outside his front door, he felt the fluctuation of flames he'd come to associate with Iemitsu and bit back a growl. Iemitsu was also perfectly capable of taking the title of Vongola, but that was before he became the External Adviser. Before the Vongola even knew he or Tsuna existed.

Tsuna opened the door, but didn't bother to announce his arrival; he hoped he could just slip upstairs and not have to speak with Iemitsu.

Tsuna's never that lucky.

"Tsuna." Of course it was Reborn. "I know you don't want to, but it's better if you get it all out now."

Reborn was still perched on his head and Lambo was passed out in his arms as he sighed and forced his legs to pull him toward the sitting room, before he paused and got an idea.

"Akira!" Reborn's eyes widened as the Jaguar came bounding down the steps. "It's time you met my father."

Evil grin in place, Tsuna opened the door to see Nana and Iemitsu quietly waiting for him to come in. Akira followed behind faithfully, but froze when his eyes landed on Iemitsu. Iemitsu took one look at Akira and started reaching for his gun, Tsuna smirked.

In the span of five seconds, Iemitsu was flat on his back, the gun was out sliding toward Nana, and Tsuna was doubled over laughing. Iemitsu was screwed.

Nana was well aware of Akira's fear of guns and knew the only reason he tolerated Reborn's was because it smelled like Leon. While Nana was a bit of a ditz, she wasn't completely oblivious to everything; she did keep a small hand gun in her bedside table and another under the kitchen sink. While Tsuna hadn't told her everything, wanting to leave that to Iemitsu, he had made mention that a lot of people seemed to come after them.

Oh yeah, Nana may not know everything, but seeing a gun fall out of his pants was enough to confirm some suspicions.

Tsuna snickered as Nana gently coaxed Akira off of Iemitsu and immediately started yelling.

"Why does Papa have a gun?"

"Tsuna…"

Tsuna stopped snickering and walked out of the sitting room and headed for his, Akira following.

"He needs to talk to her first."

Reborn didn't say anything else as Tsuna dropped Lambo off in his, I-Pin, and Fuuta's room, before heading to his own. They were waiting for the fight down stairs to end and Iemitsu to come to Tsuna. It would be easier to resolve things when Nana inevitably left for a friend's house for the night.

It didn't take long, for as mild natured as she was, Nana could have quite the temper. It wasn't hard to figure out which of his parents Tsuna took after.

"Tsuna…"

Iemitsu stood in the door way, keeping a careful eye on Akira as Tsuna pet him on the bed.

"I know you have questions." Tsuna started, but refused to look at Iemitsu. "But if you want answers, you have to tell mom the truth first."

"I can't-"

"Bull shit!"

Iemitsu's mouth set in a frown.

"I am your father and you will show me respect."

"How about no."

Iemitsu took a few steps back in surprise. He knew Tsuna was fairly independent and strong minded from Reborn's reports, but he never dreamed his own son would be so blatantly rude to him. Even so, Iemitsu wasn't going to back down, least of all to his own son.

"Whether you like it or not I am still your father. I will not stand to be treated this way."

Whatever response Iemitsu was expecting, he didn't get it.

"Tsk… Hahahaha!" Tsuna burst out laughing. "You think… haha… you can… *snicker* tell me to do anything?"

"Of course!"

"Delusional doesn't suit you Iemitsu."

"How dare-"

*Whack*

Before Iemitsu could make a serious attempt to re-establish himself as some sort of authority figure in Tsuna's life, Tsuna got up and punched him in the face. Iemitsu hadn't been expecting the move and fell flat on his ass, while Reborn and Akira watched the scene unfold with indifference.

"Don't…" Tsuna's voice was a deep hiss that demanded Iemitsu listen. "Don't even presume you have any right to tell me what to do."

Iemitsu just stared at Tsuna dumbfounded. He hadn't wanted to believe it when Reborn told him, but it looked like Tsuna really did hate him.

"I grew out of needing a good for nothing father years ago. Shut up!" Tsuna roared as Iemitsu tried to talk. "The first time someone tried to kill me, I was eight." He couldn't help but smirk at the look of horror on Iemitsu's face. "That's right, eight. For the last six years I've been attacked at least one hundred times by people coming after me because of you. I'm sure you know all about the time Enrico tried to kill me because Nono discovered I had access to the Vongola dying will flames."

"You weren't-"

"What? Wasn't supposed to know why people wanted me dead or wasn't supposed to become a target because I was supposed to be so blissfully ignorant of your real job." Tsuna snorted, he'd worked things out years ago. "Either way you failed miserably and now I've been picked to continue the Vongola line as a last resort. After all, we can't have Nono's traitor son taking his place now can we."

"Tsuna." Reborn growled, this was something even Asami shouldn't know about. "Asami doesn't know about that."

"Yes he does." Tsuna looked the Sun Arcobaleno in the eye. "He knows because I told his."

"How? When?"

Tsuna smirked, it didn't matter what he said right now, as long as the conflict was going on Reborn wouldn't dare do anything.

"If you want to know so badly, figure it out." He turned his attention back to Iemitsu. "I know everything that's been going on and I will _not_ be treated like an ignorant child that needs to be scolded by Daddy because I got in a little trouble." His eyes were colder than Reborn had ever seen them. Normally Tsuna's rage was hot and burning, this cold indifference was disturbing. "You lost the right to call yourself my father years ago."

Tsuna turned on his heal and grabbed a duffle bag out of his closet and started filling it with clothes and other odds and ends, not caring that he was revealing most of his carefully hidden stashes of electronic goodies; he'd find new hiding places later. He grabbed Akira's leash last before heading out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

Iemitsu was still trying, and failing, to express some authority over his son by grabbing his arm. He had to pull back fast as Tsuna's skin heated up enough to burn; Tsuna definitely had good control of his dying will flames.

"Away from you." Iemitsu flinched at the strength of the glare. "Tell mom I won't be back until you leave." Tsuna smirked sardonically. "Never mind, I'll tell her myself after I finish telling her why you really carry a gun."

He went to the kids rooms and packing their things, Nana wasn't here so he'd have to take them with him. They all woke up from him turning on the lights and rummaging through their belongings to fill up their backpacks for a couple nights away if it became necessary.

"Tsuna-nii?"

Fuuta sat up and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Help Lambo and I-Pin get dressed for me Fuuta." Tsuna gave the honey eyed boy a tired smile. "We're staying over at Kyoya-san's place tonight."

"But it's almost 1 O'clock?"

"I know and I'm really sorry, but…"

"Tsuna…"

Tsuna turned around and snared at Iemitsu who stood awkwardly at the door.

"Go and talk to Reborn about all the shi-" He trailed off and looked at the kids before continuing. "All the stuff you think I don't know."

Realization donned on Fuuta's face as he urged I-Pin and Lambo to get up and get dressed. Fuuta had likely looked into a lot of Tsuna's rankings, so it was no surprise if he knew about the bad relationship Tsuna had with his father.

"Look… Tsuna I'm sorry." Iemitsu pleaded softly. "I thought you were too young to be involved, but then Federico died and there was no choice but to involve you. There-"

"There wasn't anyone else. I know." He continued packing the bags. "I was a last resort, but that didn't protect me or mom from the backlash that comes from having a Mafioso in the family."

"You may know a little because of Asami but you don't have a clue what really goes on in the Vongola. You wouldn't understand until you've…"

Iemitsu trailed off from his rant, but Tsuna knew what he meant.

"Until what? Until I killed someone?"

"I…"

"I made my bones last year."

It was spoken so casually that Iemitsu thought he'd misheard and Reborn, who'd been hanging in the door way as well, did a double take. Fuuta, sensing the rising tension, took I-Pin and Lambo out of the room and herded them down stairs to wait for Tsuna.

"WHAT!"

In the next second Iemitsu felt a brush of air pass his cheek. He looked behind himself only to find a dart buried in the wall behind him.

"I killed someone last year." It was almost like he was in hyper dying will mode, he'd gone from agitated to calm in a surprisingly short time. There was only one problem with his calm tone, it seemed so dead. "It was just another common thug from the Nuevo Famiglia. He'd heard a rumor about you having a son in Namimori and decided to try and make a name for himself." Iemitsu winced. "It was pretty easy, killing him. I made Kyoya-san and Asami very proud that day. Though Nii-san and Takeshi felt a little edgy, at least until they killed the next thugs that came after me."

"They-"

"That's right." Tsuna started for the door, brushing past Iemitsu. "All of my Guardians, except for Lambo, have killed someone. I was kind of sad at how shell shocked Nii-san and Takeshi were, and they're still not keen on the idea of murder, but they've accepted it as a part of being Mafioso, of always being targeted by people who don't have any moral reservations against murder."

Tsuna left Iemitsu and Reborn standing in the door way of the kids' room, not bothering to look back.

Iemitsu took in the room, trying not to hear the front door opening and slamming shut. The room was simple, but childish with a few toys strewn about. It was everything he pictured Tsuna enjoying as a small child; he had hoped Tsuna would have a carefree childhood with no extraordinary worries.

He really was a failure of a father.

"Reborn…"

"He wants you to tell Nana." Reborn jumped onto Iemitsu's shoulder. "It was a bit of a hint as to how to get him to consider talking to you civilly."

"I know, but-"

"If you don't, he will." Reborn gave Iemitsu a rough slap to the back of the head. "If he tells her first, you'll really be hated by him for the rest of your lives."

Iemitsu closed his eyes and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to spill forward. It wouldn't do for a powerful Mafioso to cry, least of all in front of a legend like Reborn. Iemitsu couldn't allow himself to let this get the better of him.

"I have to leave in a few days."

"Then you have a few days to try and explain everything."

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna cursed as he led the three children to Kyoya's house on the barely lit sidewalk. I-Pin and Lambo had been so dead on their feet that Tsuna had no choice to carry them and three of the luggage bags (Fuuta had volunteered to carry his).

Kyoya wouldn't be too pleased with their arrival, but Tsuna didn't care right now, he'd make it up to the prefect later. Kyoya was the only one of his Guardians who had sufficient room and comfort for the five of them. Kokuyoland was big enough of course, and Mukuro probably wouldn't complain as much, but it was too far for him to carry two five year olds and make an eight year old walk.

No, the only option was to go to Kyoya's and hope Iemitsu grew a brain and left soon.


	27. Storm Match

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 27: Storm Match

"Hayato."

Tsuna gazed at his Storm Guardian as he practiced with paper air planes in mountain range surrounding Namimori.

"Yes Juudaime?"

Hayato stopped for a moment to listen to Tsuna, since it was his match tonight; he assumed Tsuna was going to give him some advice.

"From what I understand, Belphegor's martial art style is similar to my own." Hayato's eyes widened. "Keep your eyes open for knives and wires."

KHRKHRKHRKHR

11 O'clock Namimori Middle School

Tsuna, his Guardians, Reborn, and Dr. Shamal gathered in the school court yard, once again waiting for their competition to arrive. They didn't have to wait long, however, as both the Varia and the Cervello arrived not long after.

"Tonight's match will be between the Guardians of Storm." One of the Cervello said as she led the group into the school. "In order to suit the purposes of the raging storm, we have converted the entire second floor into the perfect battle ground."

Kyoya glowered as they reached the second floor. The first match hadn't done any harm to the school, but fighting inside…

"I expect all damages will be repaired swiftly and efficiently."

The Cervello gave Kyoya a quick look before nodding, not bothering to say anything on the matter.

"Every room has been equipped with powerful wind generators that will simulate hurricane force winds. These generators are equipped with timed explosives." Hayato's eyes widened, as did some of the others. "Due to this, the Storm match will have a fifteen minute time limit. If the match isn't over by then, both Guardians' are liable to die in the explosion." One of the generators activated, blowing out the library doors, demonstrating the ferocity of its wind force. "For your safety, all spectators are expected to stay within a specifically marked viewing area, where you can watch what's happening from the view screens."

"Alright, let's EXTREMELY do it!"

Ryohei grabbed Hayato and pulled him over, motioning for everyone to get in another circle.

"Hey! I don't want a damn circle!"

"Come on Hayato." Hayato stopped struggling. "It'll be nice."

Once again Tsuna was able to convince even Mukuro and Kyoya to join in.

"Hayato fight! OH!"

As Tsuna and Xanxus were directed to their specific viewing areas, Hayato and Belphegor got into place.

Tsuna was more worried about this match than he had been for the Sun match because Hayato was relatively new to his group dynamic and because of Bel's reputation. If there was ever someone who embodied the famed Varia quality, then it was Belphegor. Known as Prince the Ripper for having killed the entire royal family from which he originated and seen as a genius tactician and fighter. Hayato may be highly intelligent, but that may not save him from the princes' wrath.

"Battle Start!"

Tsuna snapped out of his musings and focused on the fight, it was all he could do for Hayato right now.

KHRKHRKHR

"Hey, kid." Hayato looked up to see Bel staring at him with that creepy slasher smile. "Aren't your shoulders too stiff?"

Bel gave Hayato a small pat on the shoulder before taking his place a few feet away. Hayato didn't know why, but something about that little encounter made him feel off.

"Battle Start!"

Hayato took out a handful of dynamite and threw it at his opponent. He was trying to get a good feel of Bel's strategy, so he had to test the waters first. He was only mildly surprised when Bel jumped backwards and allowed the powerful wind current from the generator to blow away the dynamite.

"Just throwing around some toys? How disappointing." Bel's smile only grew. "Who do you think you're dealing with, circus tricks won't work on the prince."

Hayato ignored him and examined the wind current, trying to see if he could use it to his advantage with his new technique.

"Che! You're at just as much of a disadvantage as me!"

"Really?"

Bel took out a group of knives and casually threw them into the wind stream, seemingly not noticing the folly of this attempt. Hayato was expecting the knives to be blown away, like his dynamite, but was surprised when the knives sailed through the wind and headed straight for him.

Hayato quickly ducked to the left and headed into the closest classroom, using the next door to try and take Bel by surprise, only to be cut off by another wind turbine.

"Damn! How'd that knife bastard do that?"

Hayato didn't get an answer; instead he felt a burning pain in his arm and jumped back as he realized one of the knives had grazed his right arm.

"I'm only using the currents." Bel walked in using the other door, slasher smile seeming more and more appropriate as he drew more knives. "If I use the correct flow I can…"

He trailed off as he gently set a knife into the stream of wind, letting it fly along the current. At first Hayato thought the knife would simply disappear, but not a second later did it put a nice cut on his thigh.

"Arg!"

The initial turbine stopped, so he used that to sprint down the now deserted hall and into the nurses' office.

_There has to be more to it than that._ Hayato sagged, waiting for the tell tale signs of footsteps coming down the hall. _Juudaime said their styles were similar… Juudaime does use darts, which are a melee weapons, like knives…, what else? _Another three knives came flying through the air, two missed, but the third left a painful gash on his cheek. This time it was deeper than the initial two cuts.

Hayato's body lurched forward, trying to find the invisible assailant, but he could barely hear any footsteps. Bel was still a few classrooms down the hall, so how…

Flashback

"Keep your eyes open for knives and wires."

End Flashback

Hayato suddenly jerked and looked at his own shoulder, aware of an unusual weight he hadn't felt before. He searched the office with his eyes before he grinned. Prince the Ripper would be in for a surprise.

KHRKHRKHR

"As fun as hide and seek is, I think it's time to end this."

Bel had thought, with the feisty bombers interesting reputation, the match would be more entertaining. He was sadly disappointed that Hayato hadn't delivered on his expectations. Oh well, there were more opponents in the sea.

Bel unleashed what he believed would be his final volley of knives and watched as they soared into the room marked "Nurse," and grinned at the irony. There was a dull thud and he pouted, it was over far too quickly.

The glass of the window shattered as a body was pushed out from the force of the impact of the knives. He was expecting to see a bloody mass of silver hair, but instead…

KHRKHRKHR

"He figured it out."

Tsuna smirked as he watched the health dummy fall before the prince, before it was dragged down the hall by some invisible force. His smirk grew as he saw Hayato holding the dummy by a very thin, but undoubtedly sharp, wire.

"Hayato's come far." Shamal commented from beside Tsuna. "I wager he'll use that, now that he's figured out his opponents' strategy."

Reborn smirked. Hayato really was suited for the position of Storm Guardian.

KHRKHRKHR

"I figured out your little parlor trick, _prince_." Hayato grinned, cigarette gently smoking as he presented his find. "You attached a wire to me at the beginning of the match. Using that, you could set all of your knives on a track that would find me anywhere, almost always guaranteeing a hit."

"Not bad, kid." Bel pouted for a second before he grinned again as the wind turbine separated them with wind once more. "Not bad, but still only a 50 percent. You're still at more of a disadvantage than me."

Hayato grinned and pulled out his knew bombs. They were slightly smaller than his usual arsenal, but the lighter weight would serve him well in this situation.

"We'll have to see about that."

Hayato launched his dynamite through the wind, not caring how strong the current was. His new bombs quickly showed off their special feature, as a second fuse was lit and the force cause by new thrust sent the bombs straight at Bel.

"How do you like my rocket bombs?"

Hayato couldn't help but jab at his opponent as the smoke started to clear. Even if Bel wasn't quite beaten yet, he'd still be hurt and that would even up the playing field even more.

"Ushishishishi…" Hayato stared in shock as the bloody prince laughed at his own injuries. "Blood… blood! It's been so long since I've seen my own blood!"

KHRKHRKHR

"Heh, Bel's been injured."

Marmon commented wryly. Things were about to get interesting.

"Voi." Squalo winced. "He really is messed up."

"Bel's true nature has a nasty habit of coming out whenever he's injured. That's boy doesn't stand a chance."

KHRKHRKHR

"What the hell."

Hayato backed up slightly, only to be stopped by a wind turbine activating behind him, effectively pinning him to the spot.

"The Prince will how drain your blood!"

Hayato looked up in alarm as he realized Bel was skating above and below the two wind streams that separated them, approaching quickly. Hayato was agile and may be able to get passed the stream that was trapping him, but it wouldn't be fast enough. He needed to think, fast!

Hayato jumped back just as the turbines switched off and tossed a mini bomb in between him and Bel. As there was only two feet in between the two when it exploded, Hayato relaxed his body while pulling his arms and legs up loosely to form a barrier for his torso and head. He was a bit hurt, but he was able to save his own life.

"Ahhhhh… It feels so good!" Bel seemed to bask in the sight of his own blood. "My blood… my blood is running free."

"You're insane." Hayato yelled as he stood. "Without your little trick it'll be a lot harder to hit me, so you better back down before you die of blood loss."

"You think so?"

Bel's slasher grin seemed to be splitting his face as he took out more knives and tossed them at Hayato, who dodged them all. As he was preparing to speak again, Hayato felt another white hot pain as various cut showed up all over his body within seconds after the knives passed by.

This didn't make any sense!

Hayato took off running back toward the Library, thinking the shelves would provide good cover to figure this out. He dodged every one of Bel's knives, but he kept getting cut! All of his injuries were fairly superficial, not all that deep, but he was losing blood fast.

As he entered the library and dodged another volley, Hayato thought he saw a shiny substance before the cuts began to form… Of course!

Hayato followed the movement's Bel was trying to put him through, dropping and throwing the occasional stick of dynamite, trying to get Bel to cut them and spill their contents on the ground. Gun powder would suit his plan nicely after all.

"No where left to go."

Bel advanced, confident his prey was cornered. It had been more fun than he expected, with the brat being able to injure him, but it was time to end the game. The turbines were getting down to the last two minutes before they would blow.

Hayato smirked as Bel advanced slightly, so he was aligned perfectly for Hayato's own little trap. Carefully lighting his lighter, looking as if he was trying to get a better look at the wires surrounding him. He pretended to drop it in surprise, but lit the small trail of gun powder at his feet.

Bel didn't realize what was happening until it was too late.

The gunpowder ran out and all of the wicks lit. The dynamite covering the library exploded simultaneously, causing many book cases to fall and the wires surrounding him to sag and become harmless.

"Now."

Hayato sent a volley of rocket bombs at the stunned knife user and then sent another, just to be sure.

The room fell quiet and the smoke started to clear. In front of Hayato was a bloodied and unconscious Belphegor. He quickly but cautiously approached the prone figure, well aware of the two dangers still lurking in the room. If he didn't get out in the next 90 seconds, the bombs would explode, and if Bel woke up, he could end up sliced to ribbons.

Hayato grabbed the ring from around Bel's neck and tried to pull it off, only to have his own grabbed and the badly injured Bel knock him to the ground.

"The fuck!"

KHRKHRKHR

"That shouldn't be possible." Shamal commented. "Those explosions should have made him completely immobile. He must be running off of pure adrenaline alone.

"Voi!" Squalo called from the Varia area. "Bel's the kind of monster that would keep moving even with all of his bones shattered."

Tsuna grimaced, this wasn't good.

"Hayato!" Tsuna called into the microphone the Cervello had provided. "It's too late; get your ass back here."

'No!'

KHRKHRKHR

'Hayato!' Hayato jerked in surprise at the sound of Tsuna's voice. 'It's too late; get your ass back here.'

"No!" He shouted back. "I won't disgrace Juudaime by failing, even if it kills me."

'Damn it, kid! Haven't you been listening to anything I've taught you?'

Hayato couldn't help but smirk at the sound of Shamal's voice as he continued to roll around the library floor with Bel, each fighting for the others ring.

"Of course! I found something worth living for." Hayato's face contorted in pain, but remained determined. "I want to live for Juudaime, but I can't do that if I fail here!"

'Don't you dare die!'

Hayato winced at the sound of Tsuna's anger.

"Juu-"

'Screw the ring, we already have one!' Hayato could almost see the flush on his face as his voice grew more chipped. 'I don't want to win the damn contest if you, or any of my Guardians and precious friends, die. I'd never be able to forgive myself or you!'

Hayato tensed and almost let go of Bel at the sound of Tsuna's determination. No one had ever really given a damn about him before… before Tsuna. If his Juudaime wanted him to live then…

Just as he was coming to a decision, Hayato heard the bombs start to explode.

'Only 30 seconds until the explosions reach the library.'

"Damn Cervello!"

Hayato growled and let go of the ring. A few seconds later the turbine in the library exploded.

KHRKHRKHR

_He let go of the ring… he let go of the ring… he let go of the ring…_

It was the last thing Tsuna saw before the picture cut out. He'd seen Hayato let go of the ring and push himself off of Bel. He was going to try and escape the library. But… where was he?

The dust obscured everything and while his hyper intuition seemed calm, his heart still thudded with anticipation as he waited for the dust to clear. It was never wrong before but… what if it didn't catch on to this? What if-

The barrage of questions that jumped into his mind halted as Tsuna realized a figure was walking toward them. A lean, middle height body was walking toward them. Tsuna's face split into a grin as he caught sight of silver locks.

Hayato was alive.

"Juudaime… I lost…"

Hayato hung his head in shame, but was surprised when Tsuna brought him into an embrace.

"No. Not as long as you're still alive."

Hayato felt tears well up in his eyes, but held them in as he saw Squalo walking toward them. A prone, but still alive, Bel was draped over his shoulders with both ring halves in hand. Varia had possession of the Storm Ring.

"The victory goes to Xanxus." One of the Cervello stepped forward. "With the conclusion of this conflict, we will announce the next." She paused and waited until she had everyone's attention. "The next conflict will be between the holders of the Rain rings."


	28. Rain Match

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 28: Rain Match

Iemitsu sighed as Nana prepared a small breakfast for the two of them.

Since Tsuna left, she'd returned the morning after, but had largely ignored him. She listened when he mentioned Tsuna and the kids were staying with a friend, but that was it.

"Tell her before Tsuna does, you'll be better off."

While Reborn's advice made sense, Iemitsu was having a hard time bringing himself to admit he was a Mafioso to his wife. It was either tell her now, or risk losing both of them to hate and resentment for all of the lies he's told.

"Nana…" She didn't answer. "Nana, there's… there's something I need to tell you."

He didn't have a choice if he wanted to save his family.

KHRKHRKHR

11 O'clock Namimori Middle School

"Are you alright, Hayato?"

Tsuna gave his heavily bandaged Guardian a look of concern. From what he saw the day before, the wounds were mostly superficial with no broken bones, so he didn't see why Romario had…

"That bastard Romario said this is how a man treats a wound before he bandaged me up like a mummy."

Tsuna tried to hold it in, he really did, but he couldn't help but snicker as he help Hayato get out of the excess wrappings. He finished just as the Cervello and Squalo decided to make an appearance.

"Voi! So you didn't run away and let the other brat take care of things this time?"

Squalo's shark like grin was unnerving, but Tsuna was more confident in Takeshi than he had been in his two weaker Guardians, especially since Old Man Yamamoto finally gave Takeshi the Shigure Kintoki. In a way, it was nice that Ryohei and Hayato went first because it took a lot of would be stress off of Tsuna's shoulders. The only way to make it perfect would be to have the Cloud and Mist matches lined up before the Lightning match.

"Haha. Aren't Guardian's supposed to listen to the boss when he tells them he wants to take care of something. Besides, if Tsuna believes I can beat you, then I know I can."

Squalo seemed a bit take a back by the reply before focusing his gaze on Tsuna. Tsuna did not look concerned.

"Voi!" His grin got bigger. "You've got some guts kid. I think I'll enjoy spilling them."

"Ma ma. We won't know what will happen until it happens." Takeshi maintained his usual carefree demeanor, completely confident in his father's sword style. "My old man taught me an invincible style, it won't fail me."

"Invincible? Idiots who call themselves invincible, I've already buried countless numbers of them!"

As Squalo spoke, Takeshi's expression changed. His grinned remained, but it was one born of confidence in strength, rather than a carefree nature.

"I'm getting excited. It's like standing in the batter's box when you only need one point to win, with two outs in the last inning." His eyes blazed with excitement. "It's so exciting I'm getting chills."

Before anything else could be said the Cervello stepped forward.

"This evening's battlefield will be the school's building B."

"Voi! Where is that?"

"Please follow us."

Squalo and the Cervello used the roof tops to get to the building fast, while Tsuna's group proceeded at a tamer pace. As they got closer, some of the changes done to the building were very obvious. All of the windows were sealed using what Tsuna thought was bullet proof glass and the door had been replaced with a steal one that was designed with a water seal.

The Cervello opened the steel door and revealed why the modifications were necessary. Inside the floors were no longer physically separated as the building became a multi-level platform with water cascading all around. It almost reminded Tsuna of a setting in a video game, where you were supposed to fight your way to the top of a building.

Tsuna was about to ask a question, but stopped as he felt three people coming up to them.

"This isn't good."

Dino, Romario, and Basil had decided to make an appearance.

"Why do you say that?"

Tsuna glanced at the nervous Mafioso's and couldn't help but smirk at the sight of the bandage on Dino's cheek. Kyoya really did need to learn to play nice.

"Squalo has the advantage." Dino stepped forward. "He's used to fighting on multiple terrains."

"We'll just have to see about that."

Tsuna ignored Dino's stunned look and focused on the explanation of the battle.

"This is the battlefield for the battle of rain: Aquarion." One of the Cervello moved to stand on a dry rock in building. "Its special features consist of the three-dimensional structure and the large amount of water cascading through an enclosed space. The water flowing from the tank on the top floor will deepen from the 1st floor upward. So long as he battle continues, the water level will continue to rise."

"Just like a sinking ship." Ryohei commented.

"Little by little, finding footing becomes harder as well."

Basil bit his lip; Squalo was named after a shark for a reason. This type of field would suit him all too well. Takeshi may be confident but this match could turn out to be a disaster.

"Furthermore, the collecting water has been specially modified to match the consistency of seawater." The Cervello continued. "When the water level reaches a predetermined height, a ferocious sea beast will be released into the arena."

Tsuna's eyes narrowed, Xanxus was here.

"Ushishishi." Bel smiled as he came to stand next to Squalo. "Sounds interesting."

"That bastard." Hayato growled. "So he survived the explosion."

"Funny thing." Bel's grin got bigger as he focused his attention on Hayato. "When I woke up this morning I had this ring in hand."

Tsuna placed a hand on Hayato's shoulder and shook his head.

"You know." Tsuna started. "For someone who won a fight, your injuries are more severe than the supposed loser."

Bel scowled at the reminder. In the end his victory hadn't been about skill, but an order from Tsuna telling Hayato not to die. It was not the way most martial artists would claim to have beaten an opponent.

"Heh." Xanxus gave a cruel smile at the scene. "Maybe you can get rid of this trash for me."

The statement would have been normal, except he was talking to Takeshi about Squalo.

"VOI!" Apparently Squalo picked up on that as well. "The fuck is your problem!"

"Xanxus is completely serious." Reborn's face was grave. "He doesn't care if Squalo wins or loses, he's confident he'll win the conflict either way."

"Haha. Time to do our circle."

This time Hayato, Kyoya, and Mukuro didn't argue, knowing they'd end up in it anyway.

"Takeshi fight! Oh!"

"Ha ha. Thanks, now I know I'll win."

Before anything else could be said, the Cervello herded everyone but Takeshi and Squalo out of the flooded building.

"Like last time, we have provided a large monitor so you can see all of the action in relative safety." The Varia and Tsuna's group picked spots with about twenty feet in between them, but with good views of the monitor. "There will be no time limit other than the complete flooding of the room."

"I'm going to enjoy killing a sword brat like you." They could hear Squalo say over the intercom. "Maybe then I can get the boss to shut up."

"Now, for the Ring of Rain: Superbi Squalo vs. Yamamoto Takeshi." The Cervello called over the intercom system. "Battle Start!"

KHRKHRKHR

"FLY!"

Squalo charge, releasing the sword hidden in his sleeve that was attached to his wrist. He made a slashing move, but Takeshi rolled under it. Rather than being frustrated, Squalo just grinned and did a backwards slash, letting the small explosives on the blunt side of his blade fly backwards, toward Takeshi. Again Takeshi avoided the attack, this time by using his bamboo sword to propel him forward.

"Ho, avoided it, did you?" Squalo seemed amused. "You've trained hard to be able to do that, but…" His shark grin got bigger. "How do you plan to fight using that piece of wood?"

Takeshi just grinned and flicked his wrist. The bamboo sword transformed, taking on the true appearance of the Shigure Kintoki of the Shigure Soen Ryu.

"The Shigure Kintoki is a transforming blade." Takeshi said when he saw the slightly impressed look on Squalo's face. "It compliments my Shigure Soen Ryu perfectly."

"VOI!" Squalo charged forward once more. "Don't get cocky and think that was my real strength."

About ten feet from Takeshi, Squalo used his momentum to propel himself around some of the rubble, making the move almost completely invisible. Almost.

Takeshi was never more glad for the high speed training him and Ryohei had under gone with Tsuna and Kyoya. He was able to discretely follow Squalo's movements without giving away that he knew where the other swordsman was. Hopefully Takeshi would be able to turn the tables and take his opponent by surprise instead of the other way around.

Squalo came out from behind a pillar and attempted to attack Takeshi from behind. He tried to launch a volley of explosives at close range when Takeshi blocked, but the attempt failed win Takeshi spun his sword around backwards to create a wind shield.

"Shibuki Ame." Takeshi called cheerfully. "That could have been dangerous if I wasn't prepared."

Squalo growled but continued pelting Takeshi with attacks, relentless perusing him as Takeshi dodged every attack. Squalo was quick to anger and this was never a good thing for a face to face combat specialist, it meant one burnt energy fast.

Takeshi kept his movements calm and fluid, not worried, allowing himself to be herded in the direction Squalo wanted. He grinned as his back hit the wall and Squalo came charging with a battle cry.

Takeshi dug his sword into the rippling water and used it to form a liquid barrier, stopping Squalo's advance. Using the cover of the water, Takeshi ran out and straight toward Squalo in a slashing motion. It looked like it would fail, as Squalo raised his own sword to defend, but there was no twang of metal colliding.

Takeshi let go with his left hand and caught the sword with right. Squalo didn't have time to block, so he jumped backwards as fast he could, only getting nicked instead of cut in half.

KHRKHRKHR

Reborn watched the scene unfold with a critical eye and frowned. Tsuna hadn't lied when he said Takeshi would kill if he had to, that move would have been fatal if Squalo hadn't dodged the brunt of it.

"Ushishishi." Reborn turned to see Bel chuckling. "He may not be hurt badly, but that brat has to be pretty good to get a hit in." Bel pointed back to the monitor that was now focused on Squalo as he rose to his feet. "Squalo managed to get himself cut. Maybe a little bit of blood will teach him to take this kid seriously."

Reborn pressed his lips into a tight line. The blood spilling from the shallow cut on Squalo's chest only proved to further confirm Tsuna's claim. While this would make winning the match more freezable, it did present some disturbing questions about how long Ryohei and Takeshi have been involved and why.

Kyoya made sense, he had a father who was a Yakuza and had created his own little police force within Namimori. Reborn had his suspicions about Mukuro, but hadn't confirmed them, but his attitude all but confirmed a prior connection to the mafia. Ryohei and Takeshi, however, had normal backgrounds and had no connection to the mafia prior to Tsuna, so why were they so comfortable with this?

KHRKHRKHR

"Sakamaku Ame and Samidare." Takeshi wasn't worried about Squalo dodging, instead, he'd expected it. "Shigure Soen Ryu balances defense and offense."

Rather than being concerned, Squalo just grinned.

"I have some bad news for you brat. I finally recognize that style. It's one I've beaten before."

Takeshi just smirked in return. He'd expected something like this.

"Since you recognized the seventh form, you must know an eighth one."

"Of course!" Squalo swung his sword arm, grin never leaving. "The Autumn Rain."

"Heh."

Squalo charged once more and used Samidare as he saw Takeshi raise his sword. He was attempting to catch Takeshi by surprise, but was himself surprised when he emerged to find Takeshi in a stance like the Autumn Rain and grinned… only to have it wiped off as Takeshi spun and cutting around himself so the water was like a projectile.

Squalo struggled to stand. He'd dodged the brunt of the attack again, but had come out with a large gash across his shoulder for his efforts.

"Shigure Soen Ryu, eighth offensive stance. Shinotsuku Ame."

"But how?"

"Shigure Soen Ryu is a style that evolves with each generation." Takeshi allowed the Shigure Kintoki to revert back to its bamboo form. "The master you fought most likely trained with the same master as my old man and gained the seven initial forms, but his eighth form was one of his own creation, just like Shinotsuku Ame is my old man's eighth form."

"Damn you brat." Squalo growled as he brought himself to his feet. "I'll kill you."

Squalo began slashing at the water, parting it as he ran toward Takeshi.

_Scontro di Squalo. _Takeshi thought back to everything Tsuna had told him about Squalo. _At least he never used Attacco di Squalo._ Takeshi switched his stance to that of a baseball batter.

"As if just swinging a sword like a bat would stop me!"

Takeshi swung the bamboo sword downward, using the increased surface area to form a small tidal wave. Squalo managed to get around it only to find Takeshi and behind him.

"Heh, not bad." Squalo's sword arm bent backwards, revealing it to be metal and stabbed Takeshi… or at least his reflection. "What the… A reflection?"

Takeshi appeared above Squalo as the pillar of water that created his reflection fell. As he slashed down wards, Shigure Kintoki once again a blade, Takeshi changed his mind at the last second and switched the sword, so he struck Squalo on the back of the neck with the blunt side of his sword.

"I… lost?"

"Shigure Soen Ryu, Ninth offensive form: Utsushi Ame." Takeshi explained to the prone figure. "My own creation as the ninth generation of the last remaining branch of the Shigure Soen Ryu."

KHRKHRKHR

"Last, but… shouldn't a style that changes with each successor have multiple branches." Basil furrowed his brows. "After all, Yamamoto-dono uses a different eighth form than the master whom Squalo defeated before."

"No, it's the opposite." Tsuna stepped forward before Reborn could speak. "Shigure Soen Ryu is a style that started as one form and grew from there. Over the years, the weaker successor's styles gradually died out and the stronger ones found it harder and harder to find capable successors that had the natural ability to master the sword with no more than a single demonstration of a technique." Basil's eyes widened. He hadn't realized picking a successor was so difficult. "So many branches died because the master died before finding a suitable successor. That is why Shigure Soen Ryu had only two surviving users after Squalo killed the other master. It's a self destructive technique."

KHRKHRKHR

Takeshi used his sword to grab the ring off of Squalo's neck, not wanting a repeat of Hayato's fight. He gave a melancholy smile as he put the halves together and slipped the ring on his middle finger.

"I defeated the one who defeated the Sword Emperor; Dad's going to be proud."

Takeshi's head jerked up as a loud buzzer sounded and he heard a gate opening.

"The designated depth for the sea monster to be released has been achieved. As the victor, Yamamoto Takeshi is advised to make his way to top of the arena, where a porthole is located."

Takeshi moved, getting ready to head up, before he looked back at Squalo.

KHRKHRKHR

Xanxus watched impassively as Squalo lay motionless in front of Takeshi. He thought back to the past, how Squalo swore to not cut his hair until Xanxus achieved his goals. He thought back on how Squalo cut off his own hand to try and understand the Sword Emperor better. He thought back on Squalo's loyalty. He stared long and hard at Squalo's prone form and laughed.

"Buha- Hahaha!" His smile was cold, almost dead. "That trash has out lived his usefulness."

The others gave him an uneasy look as he continued to smile when the fin of a large Great White Shark became visible.

"Despicable." Tsuna whispered quietly. "He doesn't care for anything anymore."

KHRKHRKHR

"Damn."

Takeshi moved over to Squalo and lifted him onto his shoulder.

"Hey… you're damaging my pride as a swordsman." Squalo growled out. "You just decided not to kill me after making two lethal swipes of your blade. Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I just thought it'd be a shame to waste such a good potential opponent." Squalo's eyes widened. "I'm sure you noticed, the sword is a dying art that is appreciated by a scarce few masters, most of whom are nearing death do to age." Squalo said nothing as Takeshi climbed to the second level, his blood dripping into the water and attracting the shark to the surface. "If we allow the younger swordsmen, who have the potential to teach yet another generation, die, then we risk dying out completely."

"Heh." Squalo grinned. "How noble. While it makes sense, your sentiments are wasted on me."

Squalo jammed his elbow into Takeshi's side, catching him off guard. Squalo fell back to the first level, within reach of the shark.

"Squalo!"

"You're not bad with a sword and you don't shy away from killing." Squalo grinned as the shark jumped, heading straight for him. "Do me a favor and don't die!"

As both disappeared beneath the water's surface, all that was left was a pool of blood.

"Damn… I guess that makes two…"

KHRKHRKHR

'Damn… I guess that makes two…'

Tsuna frowned; Takeshi didn't want to kill Squalo, just like Ryohei didn't want to kill Lussuria. It really was a sad ending for a great swordsman.

"Buha- Hahaha!" Xanxus laughed again. "After all that talk and all the promises, the trash ends up as fish food!"

Tsuna growled under his breath. Xanxus may deserve respect for his strength, but his heart has long since rotted, leaving him nothing but a shell of a man. Nothing but a spoiled brat that gets kicks whenever someone else suffers, even if that someone else gave their life for him.

"With the conclusion of the Rain match, Yamamoto Takeshi has emerged as the victor, we will announce the next match." Tsuna turned to the Cervello. "Tomorrow night will be the battle for the Ring of Mist."

A.N. I put out chap 27 yesterday, but it didn't show up for some reason. I've reposted it earlier today. Hope you enjoyed chap 28. Again, I made it easier because Takeshi had prior knowledge and he's had two years to get ready. In canon, he only had a week, so of course it would be harder. With this amount of time, of course Takeshi would be stronger. Anyway, tell me what you think, ja ne.)


	29. Mist Match

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 29: Mist Match

6 O'clock Hibari Residence

Kyoya's house was a more like a manor, large and imposing. The guest rooms he'd given Tsuna and the kids were equally large and luxurious, so it wasn't hard to get comfortable. So Tsuna should be able to relax as he reclined on the cushy bed.

*Ring… ring… ring…*

Tsuna's eyebrow twitched as he read the name that flashed on his caller ID.

_Don't Answer_

It may be childish, but he made sure to program his phone to remind him never to answer Iemitsu's calls, under any circumstances. The problem was, Iemitsu had been calling him every five minutes for the last hour, and he couldn't even turn off his phone! Oh, he'd thought about it, and would have done it if the Ring Conflict was going on, but sadly it wasn't an option.

"Omnivore…" Tsuna winced and looked up to see a very irritated Hibari Kyoya. "Answer it."

"But-"

"Tsunayoshi!"

Tsuna winced as the phone finally stopped ringing.

"Sorry… I just…"

Kyoya growled and grabbed Tsuna's arm, pulling him to feet so Tsuna was forced to meet his eyes.

"When did you become a coward?"

Tsuna barely held back a snarl as he gave his best friend his most vicious glare before he faltered. He knew what Kyoya meant and couldn't deny it, but…

"I don't know what to do."

"He leaves the day after tomorrow, correct?"

"Yeah…"

"You still have time to decide, but…" Tsuna winced at the pause. "If you hesitate for too long, you'll miss your chance to say what you really want to. Don't let him leave like this."

"I'll ask Reborn to make sure he's at tomorrow's match."

KHRKHRKHRKHR

11 O'clock Namimori Middle School, Gymnasium

_Mukuro's late._ Tsuna tapped his foot impatiently as his group plus Colonello waited on the arrival of to Kokuyoland gang, considering everyone else was present. _I think he's bringing Nagi… Chrome, so she might be slowing them down a bit._

"Tsuna."

"Hmm?" Tsuna gave Reborn a questioning look.

"Iemitsu wants to speak with you…" Tsuna glared. "…and Nana."

"I see…"

Tsuna turned his gaze back to the opposite side of the gymnasium. Xanxus was sitting on a throne like chair, with Gola Mosca and Marmon on his left and Bel and Levi on his right. He tried to clear his head by focusing his attention on the humanoid Gola Mosca, but it only served to distract him further.

Something was off about the subtle amount of flames leaking from the Mosca's core. It didn't have quite the ferocity of Xanxus' flames, but it was possible the battery changed them. Somehow… somehow that didn't seem right though. It was almost as if Xanxus wasn't the flame donor…

"Tsuna."

Tsuna snapped his attention back to the impatient Arcobaleno.

"If he wants to talk, he needs to come to the match tomorrow night." Tsuna held up his hand so Reborn couldn't interrupt. "If he's serious about this, I want him to come to me and not take the cowards' way out and wait for me to go to him. Normally I'd want to set the pace, but I'm not going to let Iemitsu have an excuse to back out."

"Do you want him to bring Mama?"

"No… I just want him to prove he face me." Tsuna sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm starting to feel old."

The door to the gym creeped open, admitting four new occupants. Tsuna had been right; Mukuro brought all of them, including the newly christened Chrome.

"Are any of you the Guardian of Mist for Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

One of the Cervello stepped forward and examined the Kokuyoland gang and recognized Mukuro from the previous matches as he stepped forward, trident in hand.

"Kufufu. That would be me, lady Cervello."

Tsuna stifled a laugh at the look on the Cervello's face; Mukuro could have that affect on people when he says something unexpected.

"Then we shall begin. If all spectators would be so kind as to step within the taped line that will be considered out of bounds for the duration of the match, I can explain the rules." Almost everyone was within the taped line anyway, so she only waited for Ken, Chikusa, and Chrome to join Tsuna and the others. "The Mist match will have no special arena and no time limit. The duty of the Mist Guardian is to create something out of nothing, to bewitch ones enemies like a thick mist blanketing the land."

"Hey! It's time for the EXTREME circle."

"Sasagawa, I don't…"

Mukuro trailed off and sighed at the sight of Tsuna glaring at him. He and Kyoya really needed to work out a way to say no to their chibi boss.

"Mukuro fight! Oh!"

Mukuro and Marmon moved to the center of the gym and waited.

"Kufufu." Mukuro chuckled. "I am honored to be facing the legendary Viper."

"I see." Reborn's eyes narrowed, so he and Colonello had been right. "But why haven't our pacifiers reacted?"

"Good question, Kora!"

Marmon floated gently in the air and smirked before allowing the chain binding his Arcobaleno pacifier to fall. The color immediately went from a black to a vibrant, glowing indigo. The other Arcobaleno pacifiers glowed in response. The frog on his head also underwent a transformation, as it elongated and circled over his head until it was biting its own tail.

"I'm surprised you were able to see through Fantasma and me." He floated a bit closer. "You must have some talent."

Mukuro and Marmon just smirked and stared at each other and waited. This would be a match to remember.

"Are both contenders ready?" The Cervello received two nods. "This is the fourth battle in the Ring Conflict. Rokudo Mukuro vs. Marmon, Battle Start!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the gym began to spin and the walls and floor seemed to melt. All but Tsuna, Kyoya, Reborn, Colonello, Chrome, and Xanxus became unstable, being unable to hold off the effects of the illusions.

Mukuro spun his trident around his head and slammed the base into the floor. Flames erupted from the unstable ground, but were quickly frozen. Mukuro only grinned, the illusion had been made week on purpose.

"I'll end this quickly."

What little one could see of Marmon's face seemed to disappear as an ice cold wind encompassed the building. Ice slowly began to build up around Mukuro's feet, rising quickly.

"Oya." Mukuro grinned as the ice creeped higher, seemingly not affected by the cold. "Oya oya."

Soon his entire body was encased in ice, but only the Varia seemed to think it was working.

"So, Kyoya-san."

"Yes Omnivore?"

"How long do you give it?"

Kyoya gave Tsuna a sardonic grin as his gaze was fixed on the frozen Mukuro. Neither of them was concerned for the Mist Guardians' well being.

"That herbivore will have this done in less than ten minutes."

"Really? I think he'll be done in less than five."

The others in the group showed varying degrees of amusement, but didn't get a chance to join in on the betting pool.

"Your Mist Guardian has already failed." Marmon addressed Tsuna. "The art of illusion seizes control of the person's perception. That is to say, it infiltrates the brain that governs their five senses. The stronger the illusionist's abilities, the more complete the infiltration." His seemingly expressionless face looked to be grinning. "Their illusion's rate of success is also heightened and its hold over reality stronger. Thus, in the illusionist's case, if their illusion is successfully counted with illusion, it means that control of their own perception will be completely snatched away." Marmon's face transformed into a large mallet, and he prepared to shatter the ice encasing Mukuro. "His mind is so convinced this is real the impact will surely kill him."

Marmon charged the frozen teenager, expecting to make impact without effort, but was stopped just in front of his prey.

Erupting from the ground now was not flames or ice, but tangles of lotus flowers that created a vice like grip on the Arcobaleno. The ice surrounding Mukuro melted away, revealing him to be completely unharmed and unconcerned.

"Arg!" Marmon struggled against the lotus vines. "It feels so real!"

"Kufufu. Now that I have seen a small demonstration of your powers." Mukuro tightened his grip on the trident. "I shall demonstrate a taste of my own." His grin gained a shark like edge. "After all, a weakling like you requires no more than a taste."

The kanji in Mukuro's eye changed from a one to a four, and a small indigo flame surrounded his eye.

"Don't get cocky!"

Marmon blasted the vines off his person and a hundred illusionary copies of himself appeared. They quickly surrounded Mukuro and tentacles came spewing out of his face, attempting to trap Mukuro.

"Kufufu." Mukuro spun his trident and struck down the copies as they got close. "Childs play."

It didn't take long before Mukuro destroyed all of the copies. Once they were gone he attacked Marmon directly, but hit an illusion that turned into toilet paper.

"An illusionist who can use martial arts?" Marmon gritted his teeth. "It's like blasphemy."

"My abilities are the product of nature." Mukuro's eye switched to a one again. "Being reincarnated six times has given me the power over the six paths of hell." Mukuro's pillars of flames returned, hotter and more realistic, he was done playing games. "One such as you should know the truth of this."

"Heresy!" Marmon shouted as the flames caused scorch marks to appear where one of the pillars grazed his side. "Humans are reincarnated endlessly, the cycle does not affect ones physical abilities. That is why I collect money!"

The ground seemed to lose complete stability as Marmon's powers exploded outward. The floor seemed to become circular and disjointed as planks from the gym could be seen floating all around. The empty space in between the section of the floor was an endless blackness that seemed to try and swallow them.

Even Tsuna was having trouble staying stable on his feet. It seemed that only the illusionist could control themselves completely at this point.

"I feel sick!"

"My head!"

Hayato had his hand over his mouth, his face green, and Takeshi and Ryohei were clutching their heads. Likewise, most of the others seemed to be in varying degrees of pain as the illusions began poisoning their minds.

"If this goes on much longer," Reborn muttered as he and Colonello hung from Colonello's animal partner, a white hawk named Falco. "Those who aren't accustomed to the strain could be damaged irreparably."

Tsuna's eyebrow twitched as he tried not to look worried. He knew illusions could be dangerous to the brain if introduced in massive amounts, and with two masters going at it… things could get messy if the fight lasts much longer.

"Kufufu... Kuhahahahaha!" Mukuro burst out laughing, distracting everyone from their discomfort. "An avaricious Arcobaleno? How interesting!"

Lotus flowers and vines wrapped around the flame pillars, giving them farther reach they surrounded Marmon, who was now sweating.

"Such power… where did you get it?"

"From hell."

"Stop that nonsense!"

Another blast of cold air froze the flames and lotus flowers, but Mukuro used the now frozen pillars to propel himself around the gym, weaving in and out as he dodged all of Marmon's attempts to attack.

"Damn you!"

Marmon seemed to inflate like a balloon and encircle Mukuro, trapping him within. Fantasma enlarged and spikes formed on the inside of his circle body before it shrank once more and the spikes became imbedded in the balloon.

In less than a second, lotus flowers burst out from within the bubble, effectively destroying the trap and revealing Mukuro to be unharmed.

"I believe I have achieved my objective."

Mukuro held up the two ring halves for all to see.

"No!" Marmon's body reformed. "You haven't even begun to see my true power!"

Mukuro seemed to be standing horizontally as he smirked down at the weakened Arcobaleno.

"You know this very well don't you?" Marmon back up a few feet. "If your illusion has been countered by another's, than it means you have lost control of your own perception."

Suddenly Fantasma began choking its own master.

"What! No… Fantasma stop!"

"Kuhahaha!" Reality seemed to completely break apart and Mukuro fell toward the plummeting Marmon. "How does it feel Arcobaleno?" Even Tsuna couldn't help but wince at the slight madness on Mukuro's face. "This is my world!"

Mukuro's body melted and forced its way into Marmon's body. Marmon began to swell and bubble, his entire being threatening to explode.

"No! I'll die!"

"You lost for one reason and one reason only." Mukuro's voice drifted from nowhere. "I was your opponent."

Marmon's body finally gave out and exploded, leaving Mukuro to drift gracefully down to the restored gym floor. Everything was normal again, with the gym completely unharmed.

"Is this enough?"

Mukuro held up the completed Ring of Mist.

"The Vongola Ring of Mist is in the hands of Rokudo Mukuro, therefore Rokudo Mukuro is the victor."

Mukuro gave a gentler smile and slipped the ring onto his middle finger before walking back to the group.

"Three to one." Mukuro said as he approached Tsuna. "One more and we win."

"That's good… but Marmon escaped."

The Varia looked over in interest at that.

"Correct. He always intended to escape if it became necessary."

Xanxus sneered at that.

"Gola Mosca." The robot released some steam from its facial vents in response. "When the conflict is over, kill Marmon."

Tsuna glared at Xanxus, he couldn't stand the thought of someone treating their Guardians' like disposable tools.

"As the count is now three to one, in favor of Sawada Tsunayoshi, tomorrow's conflict may be the end." The Cervello stepped forward. "The next to fight will be those holding the rings of…"

_Cloud… cloud… cloud… Please be cloud! _Tsuna chanted in his mind.

"Thunder."

"Fuck!"

(A.N. I know it's practically the same as the manga and anime, but I saw no reason to change it. The canon Mist battle between Mukuro and Marmon was completely one-sided from its beginning, so I saw no need to tweak it too much. After all, Mukuro is the type to play games and draw things out. Please review and tell me what you think, ja ne.)


	30. Thunder Match

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 30: Thunder Match

"Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Omnivore… are you sure?"

"It took a while to find, but if the file is right then we have to end things tonight. The match… will help as a distraction."

"Tsunayoshi-kun." Mukuro interrupted. "Any other night I wouldn't mind, but this is…"

"I know." Tsuna sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That's why Kyoya-san is doing that part and I'm watching the match." Tsuna's eyes hardened. "I won't let anything happen to him."

The five other boys noticed his stressed expression, but didn't comment on it. As unhappy as Mukuro was about Tsuna choosing Lambo as a Guardian, he knew Tsuna was the one most stressed by the idea of sending Lambo out to fight.

"Alright Omnivore, leave everything to me."

KHRKHRKHR

11 O'clock Namimori Middle School

The raging thunder storm was a stark contrast to the warm and clear nights they'd been having lately, but it was strangely perfect for the nights events, Tsuna thought grimly. Both Guardians of Thunder were adapted to using electrical currents in their attacks, so the abundance of lightning would serve both sides. It wasn't hard to figure out that the roof top covered in an array of lightning rods was tonight's battle ground, so Tsuna didn't bother waiting for the Varia or the Cervello to show up and led his group inside.

Tsuna took a quick look over his shoulder and smiled at the sight of his Guardian's huddled under a cluster of umbrella. Everyone looked pretty miserable and breathed a sigh of relief when they got inside. Lambo was different; he was actually enjoying the down-pore.

"Squishy squishy boots!" Lambo cheered as he jumped in a small puddle made from the water dripping off of everyone. "Boots! Boots! Boots!"

It was cute, watching Lambo play in his new yellow boots. It was the only alteration to his usual outfit as the rest of the cow suit and horns remained.

"Damn kids having fun in this hell!" Hayato seethed. "Ahoshi! Take this seriously!"

"Gupya!"

Tsuna sighed at Hayato's scowl and Lambo's insolence. Storm and Thunder may be like brothers, but these two were liable to kill each other if Tsuna wasn't around.

"Hayato… Lambo is still a kid." Hayato's anger deflated and he backed down, looking sheepish. "And Lambo… didn't I tell you about self control." Lambo's bottom lip quivered a bit, but he stopped jumping around. "This is very important, so we can't be too excited, but we also can't be too sour either. Understand?"

"Yeah." They both grumbled.

Tsuna smiled and they made their way up to the roof, Tsuna ignoring the fact that Basil was here but Iemitsu hadn't shown up.

"I told him to come." Reborn said from his shoulder. "He never said whether or not he would make an appearance."

"I see…" Tsuna continued walking up the stairs, not bothering to look at the Arcobaleno. "If he doesn't show up, he won't be the only one to lose something."

Reborn's expression tightened, he didn't like the sound of that.

"What do you mean?"

"There's something I want to tell him… and you. Depending on how things go tonight, you may find out by night's end."

"Tsuna?"

"I can't say anything yet." His expression was unreadable, but Reborn could see dark circles under his eyes. "I just need to confirm something first."

Reborn went quiet as they reached the roof door. Before he opened the door, he gave Kyoya a meaningful look and proceeded when he received a nod in return. While the exchange was not lost on Reborn, he didn't comment as they were once again subject to the elements.

The Cervello and Levi were waiting for on the other side, but Tsuna had half expected it. Rather than dwell on it he kept his attention on Lambo as he walked forward in a tamer manner than earlier, simply enjoying the feeling of the rain.

Tsuna couldn't help but enjoy it as well. The cold rain was soothing and helped distract him from a persistent head ache, even as the ominous thunder foreshadowed the coming turmoil.

"As both contestants are present, we will explain tonight's match." One of the Cervello, clad in a black rain coat, walked forward. "Tonight's combat arena will be fitted with lightning rods for the match between the Thunder Guardians. The battleground is called the Elettrico Circuito." A bolt of lightning struck one of the lightning rods, causing a web of metal to light up on the roof floor. "The Elettrico Circuito's floor has been coated with a special conductor. The lightning that strikes the rods will be discharged onto the floor at several times its normal potency."

"Che." Hayato growled. "They knew a thunderstorm was coming and set this up. If Ahoshi is hit with that kind of voltage…"

Tsuna sighed again and knelt down in front of Lambo, who was watching the lightshow with fascination.

"I want you to tell me something Lambo." He gave a sad smile as Lambo's big green eyes looked at him trustingly. "Do you want to do this? It's okay if you don't."

"Tsuna-nii ~" Lambo grinned. "Don't you know I'm an amazing hitman!"

Lambo gave an excited bounce that made Tsuna smile genuinely, but it also served to knock one of Lambo's horns off.

"Damn Cow!" Hayato grabbed the horn off the ground and pulled out a permanent marker. "Now everyone will know who it belongs to!"

Tsuna looked at the words on the defaced horn incredulously. While it did seem like that was everyone's favorite nickname for the resident Bovino, writing ahoshi on something so visible seemed harsh.

Lambo sniffled as he took the graffitied horn back, but put it on his head without complaint when he saw the pained look on Tsuna's face. Tsuna hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and Lambo knew people could be scary when sleep deprived.

"Lambo-san will use the bazooka if he has to!" Lambo lifted the pink bazooka out of his afro slightly before putting it back. "Tsuna-nii won't have to worry about Lambo-san."

"Alright!" Ryohei called. "Let's do the EXTREME regular!"

The seven of them gathered in the cheer circle once more, but it wasn't as light or cheerful as normal. Everyone was on edge about sending Lambo out to fight.

"Lambo Fight! Oh!"

Lambo cheerfully ran into the field as the rest of the Varia and Xanxus arrived.

"Ushishishi." Bel snickered at the match up. "Levi's opponent is kind of cute. Like a baby cow."

Xanxus didn't comment, but his smirk made it clear what he thought about Lambo. He raised an eyebrow when Lambo pulled the Ten Year Bazooka out, but didn't say anything. He didn't know what it really was.

"I should have killed you last week." Levi growled at the sight of Lambo. "This time your puny boss can't save you."

Tsuna smirked slightly at that, apparently Levi was holding a grudge.

"Hey! No one picks on Tsuna-nii!" Lambo shouted indignantly. "Tsuna-nii is the best!"

"If you're finished," One of the Cervello called out, sounding a bit annoyed. "Both combatants are present, so we are ready. Thunder Match: Lambo vs. Levi-a-Than, Battle Start!"

"Lambo! Bazooka!"

"Right!" Lambo called and pointed the Ten Year Bazooka at himself, two painted horns falling out of his pockets as he did so. "See you soon!"

The Varia watched in confusion as Lambo pulled the trigger just as lightning struck one of the rods, lighting up the Elettrico Circuito. Levi jumped into the air as the arena glowed brightly, expecting to find the corpse of his would be opponent when he landed a few seconds later.

"Yare yare." A deep masculine voice filtered out of a smoke screen that enveloped the area where Lambo had been standing. "I have to fight Levi? Haven't had to do that for a while."

When the smoke cleared Adult Lambo stood in place of the one Levi was expecting.

"What is this?" Levi demanded as he glared at Lambo. "Who are you?"

"That is Lambo from ten years from now." One of the Cervello explained, catching Xanxus' attention. "He is from the Bovino famiglia, so he can utilize the Ten Year Bazooka, allowing him to switch places with the future version of himself for a set amount of time."

"Ten Year Bazooka, eh." Bel grinned. "Ushishishi. This should be interesting."

"He should still be fried!" Levi glowered. "How are you able to still stand?"

"Elettrico Cuoio." Reborn explained as he stepped forward slightly. "Lambo has a genetic abnormality that gives him great tolerance to electrical shocks. His body acts as a grounder and safely distributes the electricity into the ground, preventing any harm to come to his internal organs. In many ways, he is like a human lightning rod." Reborn grinned. "Even if the younger one is an annoying crybaby cow, he's still the best suited for the position of Thunder Guardian." Tsuna rolled his eyes at the blatant smugness. "Of course, it's only proper that the last living descendent of Lampo become the Guardian of Giotto's descendent, wouldn't you say so, Xanxus?"

"Lampo… Primo's Thunder Guardian?" Levi gapped at Lambo; not quite believing he was really Lampo's descendent. "No!"

"Ushishishi. Levi's burning with jealousy."

Lambo calmly assessed the situation and sighed. With the time spent talking, he only had about eight and a half minutes before he was sent back.

"Thunder set."

Lightning came crashing down from the sky and settled onto Lambo's horns. He didn't even need the assistance of a power source or the lightning rods, and it pissed Levi off.

"Elettrico Cornata!"

Lambo knew he could beat Levi, but the time constraints would make things difficult, so he didn't waste any time and just charged. Of course Levi dodged the initial attack, but he wasn't prepared for Lambo to follow him into the air. Lambo threw a punch, only getting in a graze, but that was all he needed.

Levi's entire body filled with electric shock. Lambo's entire body, not just the horns, was covered with electricity, so even the barest touch could be deadly. Levi was just lucky to have a minor resistance to shocks, or he may be in serious trouble from that one graze.

Only six minutes to go.

"As fast as ever, Levi."

Levi growled at the familiar tone, he didn't like the idea of the brat from the knowing him. He wanted to strangle Lambo, but had learned his lesson, physical contact was bad.

"I'll kill you!"

Levi opened launched his parabolas at Lambo, hoping to over whelm him with direct currents and the sharp edges. Lambo dodged them all, knowing from experience they could hurt, but ended up tripping over one of the wires.

"Damn."

As he fell, he was passed over by another parabola, so he was fine, but… he landed on the Ten Year Bazooka. Even Tsuna blinked in surprise as Lambo was once again enveloped in the characteristic pink smoke of time traveling. Everyone leaned forward, trying to get a better look at who would be joining them.

"What is this?" Levi exclaimed. "The air… it's so heavy."

The air was filled with a red current that sent chills down their spins. As the smoke cleared, it revealed a human body covered in the crackle of red electricity. The hair was longer and scruffier, and the outfit lacked cow print, but the identity of the new comer was undeniable. Lambo of twenty years in the future.

Three minutes and twenty seven seconds to go.

"Yare yare." Tsuna shivered at the voice, even deeper than fifteen-year-old Lambo's. "It's been a long time since the younger me used the Ten Year Bazooka."

"Lambo! You have to finish this quick."

"Tsuna-nii, huh?" Lambo grinned nostalgically. "It's been so long since I've seen your faces, almost makes me want to cry."

Levi growled and charged Lambo knowing, and he hated to admit it, that this Lambo was incredibly dangerous and he needed to end things quickly. Lambo dodged the attack, but spotted the painted horns the younger Lambo dropped and lunged to grab them.

"Now I have you!"

Levi attacked, attempting to stab Lambo with the parabola, but was stopped as Lambo held up the horn. The paint chipped from the force and the crackle of electricity, revealing the horn to be yellow with black writing.

"Yare yare. I've been looking for these everywhere. They disappeared over a week ago." He commented as he took out the horns he was wearing. "Heh, the chipped paint is revealing the insulting message left by Hayato-nii."

"Are those…" Hayato stared at the writing on the horns dumb founded. "But I just wrote that a few minutes ago."

"That's right." Iemitsu said as he stepped onto the roof. "The head of the Bovino famiglia gave me those horns. It's part of the reason I convinced him to send Lambo to Japan." Tsuna glared, he hadn't known about that part. "I knew Reborn would be able to see the potential sleeping within him, the potential to become a perfect Thunder Guardian."

"Now I can't fight to my full capacity." Lambo crouched down slightly. "Thunder set."

"I know your weakness." Levi called. "You have to be in physical contact for your attack to work."

"That was the old me. Elettrico Cornata!"

Red electricity surrounded and flowed out of Lambo's body. Using the horns, he created what looked like a lance made out of pure electricity, his reach dramatically improved.

"No!" Levi couldn't dodge in time and had to use his parabolas to try and defend. It was useless, however, as the electricity started cutting into his flesh. "Boss… praise me once more…"

"If you don't back off, you'll die."

Lambo stared at Levi impassively as he waited for the other to give out.

*Poof*

Times up.

Adult Lambo disappeared, leaving behind five-year-old Lambo to absorb the volatile electricity.

"Gupya!"

Tsuna didn't hesitate, as soon as he heard Lambo's scream he activated his dying will and rushed forward. He ignored everything as he grabbed Lambo, just in time to get him out of range of Levi's boot.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi!" The Cervello called. "Both of you shall be-"

She trailed off at the sight of Tsuna's glare. His eyes were fierce.

"The conflict doesn't matter." He said in the dying will monotone. "Only those who are eligible to become Decimo have the right to compete for the Sky Ring." Tsuna looked directly into Xanxus' startled eyes. "Xanxus cannot succeed Nono, so the Ring Conflict is null and void."


	31. The Truth of False Royalty

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 30: The Truth of False Royalty

"Xanxus cannot succeed Nono, so the Ring Conflict is null and void."

"You trash!"

Tsuna had to jump back and throw the limp Lambo toward his Guardian, as Xanxus leapt from his perch and attempted to hit him. The others were quick to catch Lambo, even as they readied themselves to attack Xanxus if it became necessary. Xanxus gave a frustrated yell as he gave up trying to hit and instead gathered the flames in his hands. Tsuna saw this and reacted quickly, grabbing Xanxus' hand and activating the Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition.

"That's enough." Tsuna ignored the look of outrage on Xanxus' face. "I've let you act like a spoiled brat and let this little temper tantrum go on for too long."

"Shut up you trash!"

Seeing this was going nowhere, Tsuna used his free hand and propelled them both forward so Xanxus was knocked off balance. As soon as Xanxus hit the ground, Tsuna froze keep parts of his body to the ground so he couldn't move.

"Boss!"

Bel and Levi attempted to go to Xanxus' aide, but were stopped as lotus vines wrapped themselves around their ankles. Tsuna shot Mukuro a brief appreciative glance. Things would go smother with the Varia restrained.

Xanxus struggled, yelling obscenities as he tried to get free. Tsuna was a bit worried he may be able to break the relatively thin ice, so he covered Xanxus with a thicker sheet, making sure only his head was free.

"I won't go to sleep again." He shouted. "I won't let you put me away like that damned old man!"

"The scars are proof that you've been a prisoner of this technique before." Reborn and Iemitsu's eyes widened. "Nono put you to sleep in order to protect both you and the Vongola, keeping the secret from all who may use it against you." Tsuna's eyes were tired, but maintained a hardness that made most present shiver. "Some secrets don't stay secret, Xanxus." Tsuna said softly, almost feeling sorry for Xanxus. "I'm well aware of how much it must hurt, finding out all of the secrets the man you called father hid from you."

Iemitsu winced at the remark, but stayed quiet. He wanted to know what Tsuna was going to say because as far as he knew, Xanxus was eligible to become Decimo.

"The hell do you know, trash! You'd never understand how I've been betrayed!"

"I'm sorry… I really am, but I can't let this continue." Tsuna allowed his dying will flames to fade, his eyes sad. "Your fury burns with an intensity that will bring ruin to everyone and everything, including the Vongola."

Tsuna stood from his position on top of Xanxus, leaving the older man to struggle fruitlessly.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, explain!" One of the Cervello approached him quickly. "How dare you violate the Ring Conflict sanctioned by Nono, your group will be-"

"I didn't violate anything." Tsuna replied calmly as he pulled an envelope out of his pocket. "This will explain why the Ring Conflict is invalid and how Nono never willingly name Xanxus his heir."

"But we have his seal!" She pulled out Nono's letter. "Nono gave us complete authority to make decisions on this matter."

"You can't feel the pain in it, can you?" Tsuna eyed the flickering flame with pained eyes. "You can't sense the feelings in it because you are not a Vongola by blood."

The Cervello looked taken aback and even Xanxus stopped shouting to listen to Tsuna. The Cervello looked like they were going to argue more, but Tsuna held up the envelope for them to examine.

"Read this quickly so we can get Nono to a hospital."

"What!"

There was a crunching noise and everyone looked over toward the edge of the roof to see Kyoya pulling an unconscious Nono from the remains of the Gola Mosca, the Kyoya that had been standing next to Mukuro flickered out of existence a few seconds later. Mukuro's expression was strained, but he maintained the illusionary bindings holding Bel and Levi.

"Nono was used to power the Gola Mosca; his flames were the perfect battery. Having the constant drain on his flames has left him weak." Seeing no one moving Tsuna turned back to Kyoya. "Kyoya-san, can you get Nono to a hospital?" Tsuna sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This may take a while and he needs to see a doctor now."

"Nono!"

Reborn, Iemitsu, and Basil rushed forward to examine Nono, trying to see if he was alright. No one noticed that Xanxus had gone strangely quiet as he watched the scene with furious eyes.

"Basil." Said boy jumped and looked at Tsuna when his name was called. "You can go with Kyoya-san, but Reborn and Father need to stay here. They need to hear this."

Reborn and Iemitsu didn't protest as Basil and Kyoya carried Nono off of the roof, the Cervello just looked stricken. There was no way to argue that Xanxus wasn't responsible for Nono's condition, he had no way to redeem himself anymore.

"As official judges of the Ring Conflict, we will read this document and assess the situation in order to decide who receives the rings." One of the Cervello spoke up as she pulled the folded paper out of the envelope. "Until we can come to a decision, the Ring Conflict will be suspended."

"Heh." Tsuna scoffed at their attempts to sound important. "Read it aloud, you won't need any time to decide. The letter will decide the outcome of the Conflict based on mafia law."

Xanxus growled, but otherwise remained silent. Even knowing what could invalidate the Conflict didn't let him know what was written in the letter. He doubted Nono would give anyone evidence of his greatest shame. His eyebrow twitched slightly as a small flame became visible at the top of the letter, it was Nono's seal.

_My Friend Yoshie,_

The Cervello jerked in surprise as they read the greeting. Iemitsu, Reborn, Levi, and Bel had similar reactions as they realized who Nono had given the letter to. All were openly staring at Tsuna.

"Who the hell is this trash Yoshie?"

"He's… the greatest hacker in the world, Boss." Bel answered nervously. "He's been active for about six years, getting involved with and solving mafia conflicts without anyone knowing who he really is."

"Please continue." Tsuna tapped his foot impatiently; the secret was practically out so he just wanted to get this over with. "I'll answer questions once you finish."

The Cervello shook her head slightly before clearing her throat and continuing.

_My Friend Yoshie,_

_I have thought long and hard about the price you have requested in exchange for your services. I have gone to great lengths to hide this information, never speaking it aloud, only ever writing it down in a journal, which I regret to this day. Before writing this letter, I contemplated asking you to consider an alternative price, but I know you will not. As an academic, you seek answers to all of your questions, most of which you can find on your own, but this is most likely the only bit of knowledge I can offer you. I thought of giving you money, resources, or immunity from retributions, but I know you will never require such things from another. So I then contemplated finding an alternative, someone whom I could identify and control if necessary, but that to was discarded quickly. For the job I have requested, I can only trust one who has complete anonymity, lest someone else discover the contract and attempt to gain influence. It is then, with a heavy heart, which I have decided to answer your question honestly and in physical form so that you may use it as collateral, all for the sake of my young heir, Sawada Tsunayoshi._

There was a sharp intake of breath from Iemitsu, but no one said anything when Tsuna just glared at him.

_Only recently did my own son, Enrico attempt to kill Tsunayoshi, all in an attempt to lessen the pool of potential heirs. So I ask that you monitor him, you need not tell me anything of his personality or capabilities, I just wish for you to contact me should you pick up any perceived threat to his wellbeing, and prevent it if it is within your capabilities. In exchange, I will tell you the truth of why Xanxus betrayed the Vongola four years ago._

"Bwahahaha!" Xanxus laughed from his trapped position. "So the trash actually admitted his shame!"

"Xanxus please don't make me freeze your mouth." Xanxus growled, but didn't say anything else. "I've been merciful and made the ice superficial enough not to send you into another sleep don't make me regret it."

_I suppose I should start from the beginning of this sad tale, so that you may truly understand the circumstances in which the Crib incident came to pass. About ten years ago, I received a message from a beggar woman who claimed to have born my child, a child who possessed the Dying Will Flame of Vongola. I met with her in order to investigate this claim and found a young child who did indeed possess a flame similar to my own. The boy was so hopeful, believing in his mother completely, I couldn't bring myself to shatter the hope in those fragile young eyes. I took the boy and his mother in, claiming him as my son even though I knew he was not._

"That's a lie!" Levi shouted. "Boss is the-"

Whatever else Levi may have said was cut off as Mukuro gagged him. The roof remained silent for a few moments, everyone attempting to absorb what was said.

"Xanxus… isn't Nono's son?" Iemitsu questioned with a tight voice. "He… this… only one related by blood can be name heir!"

"We are aware of this." The Cervello responded with a glare. "Now allow us to continue, Nono wrote more."

Iemitsu growled, but fell silent when he received a sharp look from Reborn.

_I understand if I have caused you confusion, all records you may have dug up state that Xanxus is my son by blood, there was no need for adoption papers if I was claiming him to be my true son. I knew this would cause problems at some point, as he could not be placed in line of succession, but I didn't care. I quickly grew attached to him and loved him as if he were truly my child; I treated Xanxus no different than any of my true son's. Xanxus didn't remain the quiet and trusting child I took in, however, and became violent and arrogant in his claims to the title of Decimo, a darkness formed around his heart. His strength and ambition made him an ideal successor to many of my advisors, so I had no choice but to name Federico as my favored successor. Xanxus became enraged by my decision, constantly inquiring as to why I would deny him his birth right, but I could not answer for I knew the truth would crush the illusion of superiority he'd built around himself. It was only after the Crib incident that I learned his desire for the truth lead him to breaking into my private study and stealing my journal, within it containing the truth of how Xanxus came to be my son. I knew that if he'd ever found out, he'd be angry, furious even, but I never dreamed he'd betray the Vongola and lead the Varia in a coup because of it. When Xanxus confronted me, I couldn't bring myself to kill him, knowing I was the one truly at fault, so I sealed him away in ice, left to sleep for eternity. I understand if you view me in a negative light upon reading this, but I hope you can come to understand my feelings. Please watch over Tsunayoshi and do not allow any malice you have for me transfer onto him, he is but an innocent child that doesn't deserve the pain he will experience for having the blood of Vongola._

_Sincerely,_

_Timoteo_

_Vongola Nono_

(A.N. It's short, I know, but this is the way I envisioned ending the Ring Conflict since starting this fic. Oh, I realize I made a mistake in my ages. Because Bel looked to already be a teen during the Crib incident, I thought everyone was older, but he was really only eight and Lussuria, who is the oldest, was barely 18. So even though he looks older, Xanxus is only physically 16, like Bel, and all of the other Varia are under 26. Keep reading as there is more to be revealed in the next chapter, ja ne.)


	32. Epilogue: Buying Time

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: What if Tsuna was smart, like genius hacker smart, but decided to hide it behind an average student exterior.

Chapter 32: Epilogue: Buying Time

Tsuna had skillfully avoided having to explain how he got the letter by saying he only wanted to have to explain things once, with Nono present. Since Nono was unconscious and due to be taken back to Italy for better treatment, Tsuna though he bought himself at least a week.

Yeah right.

"Do I have to?" Tsuna whined as he packed his duffle bag. "I mean, shouldn't we wait for Nono to wake up?"

"Tsuna…"

Tsuna sighed at Reborn's stone-faced expression; there was no way he was getting out of this. Only two days since the Thunder match and Reborn was shipping him and his Guardian's off to Italy.

"Does it really matter how I got the letter?"

"Yes."

"But-"

"Just pack the damn bag."

Tsuna grumbled but kept packing. He'd already resigned himself to giving up the secret, but that didn't mean he didn't want to enjoy a little more time. Even now, the prospect of even just a few Vongola big wigs knowing the truth scared Tsuna, he didn't want to give up the freedom he'd fought so hard for.

Once Nono and Reborn knew the truth, Tsuna was certain his life in Japan would be over. While that in itself wasn't too bad, he was worried about his Guardians, particularly Mukuro. What would happen if the mafia world found out the Mukuro, Akira, Ken, and Chikusa were remnants of the Estraneo famiglia? Would the Vendici get involved?

Tsuna took a deep breath and tried to calm his now racing heart and mind. It wouldn't do him, or any of his Guardian's, any good to get too anxious. Tsuna knew he couldn't afford to let all of the stress to get to him, not when the lives and freedom of others depended on his ability to stay calm. Not that knowing that made the problem go away or the stress any easier to manage.

"The others will be coming to, right?"

"Of course." Reborn sipped his espresso with a contemplative look on his small face. "You are now the official successor, so you cannot be separated from your Guardians for too long, especially not right now." Seeing Tsuna's confusion he continued. "You may have proved yourself in many aspects that are essential for a leader: strength, determination, tactics, and resourcefulness, but you also showed a side that will make others question your ability to make difficult decisions. You showed kindness."

Tsuna winced. He knew saving Lambo, effectively forcing his plans forward, and sparing Xanxus could come back to bite him in the ass, but at the time he didn't care. To him, he had no other option but to save Lambo, not doing so would go against everything he believed, and killing Xanxus would have served no purpose.

"I was just…" Tsuna rubbed the bridge of his nose, a budding migraine making itself known. "I was just trying to do the right thing."

"I know that." Reborn looked him squarely in the eyes as he spoke. "But that's the problem, making decisions based on ethics is not acceptable for a mafia boss." He held up his hand to keep Tsuna from interrupting. "Nono may be kind, but he knows when killing someone, even a member of the family, should be done no matter his moral objections." Reborn took another sip of his espresso, his facial muscles tensing with an emotion Tsuna couldn't identify. "It is likely that Nono's leadership will be called into question as well, considering the gravity of the situation."

"But there isn't anyone else." Tsuna sat on his bed next to Reborn, Akira lifting his head only to lay it on Tsuna's lap. "It doesn't matter if they don't approve because Nono, father, and I are the only ones with blood of Vongola."

"This is true." Reborn gave Akira a gentle scratch behind the ear, enjoying the purr he got in response. "However, if you look at it that way, then other famiglia's will have difficulty accepting your authority, seeing as how you were a last resort pick." His mouth curved into a frown. "It's been made even worse by the fact that both Squalo and Lussuria have been found to still be alive."

"So we're back to square one… all because I let Xanxus live and my Guardian's couldn't kill their opponents."

"Not exactly."

"How so?"

"You may have put yourself back a few steps, but the advisors have acknowledged your potential." Tsuna's shoulders sagged a little, feeling slightly relieved. "It'll be difficult, but you'll have to force them to truly acknowledge you as a full leader, and not just a stand in until the next generation. This trip to Italy will actually do you some good if you make full use of it."

"I know."

"But you're still uncomfortable."

"I just…" Tsuna stood and walked over to his open window. "I've been keeping secrets since I was a little kid. Secrets I've only let a few people know about. It just feels kind of… scary to let it all out."

"Tsuna." Reborn jumped to the floor and moved to stand behind Tsuna. "I'm going to ask you this once and only once, but I want an honest answer."

Tsuna leaned back slightly, a little startled. He knew what Reborn was going to ask, but…

"What?"

Should he answer? He'd said he'd wait until Nono was awake, but Reborn…

"Are you Yoshie?"

"Reborn deserved to know, he really did. Tsuna knew Reborn wouldn't use it against him, hell; he'd do whatever it took to help Tsuna. Reborn was there to help him, but…

"No."

Tsuna wanted to cling just a bit longer.

"We leave the day after tomorrow."

"Then why did-"

"To teach you to be prepared."

Tsuna never felt so guilty for lying as he did in that moment as he watched Reborn's retreating figure.

KHRKHRKHR

A few hours later found Tsuna sitting at the table, one of the only pieces of furniture still in the house, with Nana and Iemitsu. This was another conversation he'd been dreading. Iemitsu wanted Tsuna to be there when he finally told Nana the truth.

"Nana… what do you think I do for a living?"

Nana tightened her grip on her cup of hot tea. Tsuna could see a small crease forming in her brow as she tried to think of what to say.

"You _told_ me you were working in oil fields and coal mines around the world." Iemitsu winced as she stressed the word "told." "But I figured out that wasn't the case a long time ago. I know you've been hiding something from me."

"Nana…"

"I know it's dangerous, but I don't know why. I know you had to keep it a secret, but I don't know why. I know you thought you were protecting me, but I don't know why!"

Even Tsuna winced at the hint of betrayal in her voice. Even though he always wanted Iemitsu to come clean, her words still made him feel guilty for never saying anything about his own… extracurricular activities.

"Nana… I- I'm a… Mafioso."

The look of utter betrayal on Nana's face was heart breaking.

"You're a… criminal?"

"Sort of." Iemitsu winced. "The Vongola is more like a… slightly lucrative business than a total criminal enterprise. We… sort of keep others from causing too much chaos."

Tsuna couldn't hold in the snort that made its way into his throat. He ignored the sidelong glance Iemitsu sent him and tried to clean up the mess.

"Mom." Nana's watery eyes settled on Tsuna. "The Vongola, the name of the mafia family, is the biggest and most powerful mafia family in the world, and it does serve a purpose." Tsuna rubbed the bridge of his nose again. "It's pretty important that it stay active, but the current boss, who's getting old, doesn't have any heirs. That's why a lot of people were relieved when they found out Ie- Dad is a distant blood relative of the current boss." Tsuna tried to ignore Nana's sharp intake of breath. "The reason we're telling you this now is… I've been picked as the next boss."

"No!"

Tsuna jumped at the sharp declaration, even though he'd been expecting it.

"Nana-"

"No! My baby will not be dragged into some criminal underworld." Her eyes were fierce, the hesitation and weariness was replaced by righteous anger and determination. "Get out! As long as you want to make my son a mafia boss, you won't be welcome here."

Tsuna waited a few minutes for Iemitsu to say or do something, but just ended up sighing when it became apparent that Iemitsu would only hang his head in shame.

"Mom."

"Go to your room and pack the rest of your things. We're moving into the new house in a few days and you're-"

"Mom!"

Nana blinked in surprise but paused in her rant to worry her lip. Tsuna knew she only did that when stressed and winced. He didn't like causing her any undo strain.

"I already agreed. There isn't anything that can be done to stop it, not anymore."

It was strange how the crestfallen look on his mothers face didn't ignite the same gnawing guilt that had assaulted him when he lied to Reborn. If anything, he felt relieved.

KHRKHRKHR

Tsuna sighed as he made his way home from Namimori. After being out for two weeks, he got to go to school for one day before he had to leave again.

The last day before their scheduled trip to Italy was oddly peaceful. No one tried to attack Tsuna or any of his Guardians, and Reborn hadn't tried to ask him any more questions. The peace put Tsuna in mind of the Paux Romana.

Basically the calm before the storm.

Rather than giving him reason to relax, Tsuna was on edge, especially around Nana. Like everything else, the situation with her seemed to have been resolved, but Tsuna knew better. Nana was angry, angry and worried a dangerous combination for a mother. While she hadn't argued after Tsuna confessed to agreeing, perhaps realizing it was beyond her control, but Tsuna could see the strain in her movements and speech whenever Iemitsu was around. She hadn't even argued when Iemitsu said he was taking Tsuna to Italy, and that worried Tsuna more than anything.

Tsuna sighed again as he felt a familiar weight land on his shoulder as he turned onto his street.

"Stressed?"

"You could say that."

Reborn jumped down to walk beside Tsuna. Tsuna couldn't see it, but he could feel Reborn's eyes raking over his form, as if trying to determine something.

"Tsuna-nii!"

Tsuna and Reborn paused and looked up to see Lambo running toward them, I-Pin and Fuuta following closely behind.

"Lambo…"

He'd be going back to Italy with them.

"Tsuna-nii! Is it true, are we really going to Ita-"

Tsuna's small smile quickly became a look of concern as Lambo tripped and fell, the Ten Year Bazooka flying out of his afro… heading straight for Reborn.

"Not good." Reborn seemed frozen to the spot. "I can't move."

Tsuna watched in fascination as pink smoke surrounded the spot Reborn had just been standing in. He knew the Arcobaleno had been looking for a way to break whatever curse kept them in their diminutive bodies, and this would let him see if they succeeded.

"…"

Tsuna waited for the smoke to clear… only to see nothing.

"Reborn?"

(A.N. Don't worry, I won't leave it here. I just decided to make this into a three part series. I've already had the climax of my Ring Conflict Arc, so continuing Hacker would seem kind of annoying. Instead of getting stuck in a loop of rising action, climax, falling action, repeat, I'm just going to break it up. The next part in the series will be Hacker: Future Conflicts. Stay tooned as Tsuna's secrets are no longer Reborn's number one priority.)


End file.
